"1 






3^^ 



I^LiBRARY OF Congress.^ 



c^p-ue-xi. 






i 3„..„.n-^- 



I^UNITED STATES OF AMERICA.g^jl 



eykvt^i. yrusL^^T^i^ , fj^ta^di 






"*- *. «»^ 



A. iPlNLEY. HAS Tt7av PUBLISHED, 

.f.>. w bottnd, 5 dollsirs.) 

A CLASSICAL ATLAS, 

fin FoliOf elegantly Coloured, J 
for the use of Students ot Sacr vi £c Profane Cr.eography, 

SELECTED BY 

ROBERT MAYO, M. B. 



RECOM iM KN D A TIONS. 



Having submitted the following work to the examination of 
many pentJcmen of ilistinjruislied taJents and erudition, we hope 
^,vf. oiiail be excused for prefixing it with an abstract of their 
several opinions. 



PhUadrltihia, Dec. 24, 1813,. 
Sir — We have examined, inriividuaily, your Ej)ito(ne 
of Ancient Geography, and cheerfully pronounce it a 
very valuable work, calculated to be especial. yitsitfui to 
the iiigher classes m the public seminaries ot the Unit- 
ed States. 

Benjamin Smith Hauton, M. D. 

Profesior of the Instit'ites of JMeScin^, &c. 
Uiliversity uf Peniisylvaniu. 
James G. Thomson, A. M. 

Professor of Languag-es, JJniyjei'fiify of Pennxyfvaniat 
JamKS ABKhCUOMUIE, 1). D. 

Director of the Philadelphia Aciulemi'. 
James Gray, D. 1>. ')Gray an,t ii^ij!it''s 

Samukl ». Wylif., A, M.5 Acadeiwj. 

Robert Mayo, M. D.. 

B.aUimorc Coil-g-e, Oct. 22, ISH. 
Sir — I duly receive tne ■jiurcs of your Anri' iit G o- 
grap.jy which you bavii bac:n so kind as to foi ward to !«?, 
I nave no doubt of its beini^ an useful and necessary 
work for tht- public seminaries, especially wiiii m.iis I 
shall not fail, so soon as I am favouied with the woik 
coTiiplf te, to recommend it to the youth in this insui.ution. 
I am, Sir, your very respectful and 

Most obedient hunilde S ?' vant, 

SAMUEL KNOX D I). 

President vf BtiUimore (^(jI'C'T-^. 
Robert Mayo, M. D. 



Dartmouth College, Dec. 27, 181S. 

Sir — I have the pk;,HUi- ,r, acknowhclge the receipt 
of a copy of youi Epii> me ot Ai:^;^^! Geography, for- 
warded in a succession of sheets. 

The view of any ot the learned sciences is enxVi^^ed by 
embracing its relations and bearings, in the diflVrtnt 
ages of improvement; and no one ran become an ac- 
complished master of the same, without a kn-iwledge of 
its siate, and progress, in former times. This remark 
is strikingly true, as applied to the licographical branch: 
it presents, more than aiiy other, lively ties of coinex- 
ion between the Ancients and Moderns; and is the pur- 
est aid in judging ot their rduiive co. ditions. 

I have read, with satisfaction, the j>ui»;es of your vo- 
lume. It promises much benefit to the stiu5fc>%u__l)ving 
Calculated to fill an impurlant chasm in its deparimti^^ 
■which has been too long neglected. The materials are 
judiciously selected; the^ are airanii;ed with consistency; 
and they are exjiressed with perspicuity and concise- 
ness. The proposed ,Mai)S of ihe difierent coutitries 
and places noted in the tables, will greatly increase the 
utility and estimation of ;he performance. 

1 shall be happy in promoting your useful object-— 

^ And am, Sir, your mos» sincere and 

Respectful Servant, 
JOHN WHEELOCK, L. L. D. 
President of Dartmouth College. 
Robert MAyo, M. D. 

Piiiladelphia, Jan. 15, 1814. 
Sir — 1 have perused with pleasure, your Epitome of 
Ancient Geography. It exhibits a mass of informi;ti( n of 
high in poitanct to the Philosopher at:d the Chiistian, 
digested into an order unusually lucid and'easy. A work 
of this description has, in our public seminaries, been 
long a desideratum, which I am satisfied it will well sup- 
ply. 

In every effort of this nature, permit me to wisl 
great success, and to express my anticipation of the ge- 
neral diflusion of your work through our schools. 

I am, Sir, respectfully yours, 
W. STAUGHTON, D. D. 
Pastor of the Baptist Church, Samom tt.Fhiln. 
Robert Mayo, M. D, 



AN 

EPITOME 

OF 

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY, 

SACRED AND PROFANE; 

BEING 

An Abridgment of B^Jlnville and Wells^ 

WITH 

ADDITIONS AND IMPROVEMENTS, 

FROM VARIOUS OTHER AUTHORS: 

Accompanied wth an Account of the Origin and Migration of 
Ancient JVationa, 

For the use of Seminar 

BY ROBERT MAYO, M. D. 

Author •/ " A Rhyming Spelling' Book" and " A JSTew System of. 
JSiythology for the use of Seminaries." 

THIRD SDITION IMFROYED. 

PHILADELPHIA .-. 
PUBLISHED BY A. PINtET, 

N. E. corncF of Cuesnut and Jr'ounL Streets. 
1818. 




^% 



DlSTRirT OF PENNSYLVANIA, TO WIT: 
^^^^^'S^ Be it Remembered, That on the twenty-sixth day 
<)' "sot February, in tlie forty-second year of the inde- 

«j SEAL- S pendence of the United States of America, A. U. 
\ -.v-JS^S' ^^^- M^YO, and Co. of the said District, 

^^r-^j-^ ^have deposited in this office the title of a B >ok, the 
right whereof they claim as proprietors, in the words following', 
to wit. 

«* An Efiitome of Ancient G< ografihy, Sacred and Pro- 
Jane: being an Abridgment of D'Anville and Well*, with 
Additions and Imfirovements,from various other authors^ 
accompanied with an account qf the Origin and Migra- 
tion of Ancient JVations, for the use of Se?ninariet." 

In conformity to the act of the Congress of the United States* 
iniitult d " An act for tfie encouragement of Learning, by secur- 
ing the copies of Ma B, Chans, and Books, to the authors and 
proprietors of such copies, dun tg the times therein mentioned.** 
And also to the ^ct mtitled, "An Act supplementary to an 
Act, entitled " An Act for the Krift.)uragement of Learning, by 
securing the copies of Maps, Charts, atvd Books, to the authors 
and proprietors of such copies, during the times therein men- 
tioned, and extending the benefits thereof to the arts of design* 
ing, engraving, and etching historical and other prints." 
D. CALDWELL, 
Clerk qf the District of Pennsylvania. 



TO 

THE PROFESSORS 

OF 

THE SEMINARIES OF LEARNING, 

THROUGHOUT 

THE UNITED STATES. 

YOU whn preside over the education of our 
youth, are the best judj^es of the efforts of authors 
au'd compilers whose object is to facilitate the sci- 
entific pro.^ress of the risina^ .i^eneration; therefore 
I dedicate this Epitome of Ancitnt Geography to 
you, thou.i^h not without a mixed concern of hope 
and fpar for its fate. In the mean time permit me 
to make my particular acknowledgments to those 
of you who have already expressed your approba- 
tion of the work, in person, and by letter^ whilst 
I subscribe myself with due consideration. 
Yours, 

R. MAYO. 

Philadclfihiaf January 25, 1814. 



PREFACE, 

GEOGRAPHY and Chronoloi^y, "called by an analogous meta- 
phor, the Eyes of History," point out the sites and determino 
the dates of events. *' Without iheir illustration, the historic 
muse, that mistress of life and messenger of antiquity, would be 
degraded into a mere gossip; for the theme she might thus ab- 
stractedly report would be but as 

" A woman's story at a winter's fire. 
Authorised by her Grandame." — 

I will save myself the awkward attempt to prove that Ancient 
Geography is essential to give light and interest to every species 
of antiquity. It would be equally superfluous to descant upon 
the advantages of a knowledge of the latter. Yet, however un- 
deniable is the affirmative of these propositions; we daily wit- 
ness with deep commisseration, the supei<fluous and compara- 
tively ungainful labour of our youth in conning over the classics 
and other detached parts of ancient science, without the least 
conception of ancient geography; and consequently from this 
default of geographical knowledge, they too frequently abandon 
to despair or disgust, their historical studies, ere they have* 
made any proficiency in the all-important lessons transmitted to 
bi from the experience of the ages that are past. 

Every one who possesses the least reflection, must be sensible 
that in offering this work to the public, we cannot pretend to 
give siny thing original in regard to the subject-matter. There- 
fore, the only grounds upon w^hich it hopes for the suffrage of 
public approbation, are, the authenticity SiXiA. comprehtnsiveness oS 
its materials, together with the perspicuity of its arrangement 
and expression. The reader may judge of the authenticity of 
oar materials from tii« names of Finkerton, D'AnviUe, We% 



Vi PREFACE. 

Hennel, the Eng-lish universal history, whence we have derived 
them. Tlieii comprhensiveness will also lay some claim to the 
reader's confidence, when we assure him that we have extract- 
ed from these authorities every thing that we judfed to be im- 
portant for the completion of our desiprn; sometimes abridging, 
and frequently copying verbatim the original, (particvdarljr 
D'Anville,) us well as occasionally transposing and am ilgaifiating 
certain articles, according to the dictates of a zealous devotioi» 
to our object, of alleviating the labours of juvenile studies. In 
regtivd to perspiadtt/, we have adopted that arrangement which 
seemed most consonant with the natural order and succcsson of 
the subjects; while we have mad?- but slight changes in t!ie ex- 
pression of our authors, except when a diffijse style required, 
abridgment, 'the pupil will doubtless oe more thankful to u» 
for presenting to him, under one view, the respective results of 
learned lucubrations upon the subjects of this work, in such man- 
ner as comports most with despatch, without militating against 
perspicuity, than if we had milled the whole over into our own 
peculiar dialect, with t)ie probable hazard of perspicuity, and 
tlic inevitable cost of delay. 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. 



PART I. 
PROFANE GEOGRAPHY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Pages. 
Sect. 1— Progress and extent of Ancient Geography, 5 
Sect. II — Errors relative to the Ancient Geography 

of the North of Europe and Asia, . . fi 
Sect. Ill — Origin and Migration of Parental Na- 
tions, viz 12 

l0ty The Chinese, » . . . . 15 

2rf, The East Indiana, . . . . ,16 

3d, The Scpha, Getet or Goths, . . ibid 

Ath, The Assyrians, 24 

5//i, The Sarmatians, . . . . . 29 

6th, The Celts, 30 

7th, The Fins or Lafilanders, . . . .32 
Sect. IV— The Feudal System, ... 33 

Sect V — Epochs of the First Gothic Progress over 

Europe, . . . . .37 

Sect. Vi— Epochs of the Second Gothic Progress 
over Europe, .... 34 

chapter I. 

EUROPE. 

Sect. I — Hibernia vel lerne, . . . .48 
Sect II-*-Albion vel Britannia, ... 49 

Britannia Romana. 50 

Britannia Barbara vel Caledonia^ . .51 

§ECT. Ill — Orcades vel Ebudes losulje, , 5% 



viii TABLE OP CONTENTS. 

Seet. ly — Scandinavia, Sranza, \c>. Bnltia, . 53 

Sect V— Saimatia,^Eur«paea et Asialica, - . 55 

Sect VI — (iermania, . . . . 60 

Sect. VII— Gaina, . , . . 67 

JVlirbonensis Gcdiio — JVarbonoia^ . ^ . 70 

J^ii'.rdimensi- Gallia — Leonmsj . 71 

^qmtania. Gallia — ^quitainey . . 72 

^ B-igica Gallia — Belgium, , . . 73 

Sect VIII — Hi-.pania, Iberia, vel Hesperia, . 75 

Turraconensis, ..... 76 

JBadca, . ..... 78 

Lunitania, . . . . . 79 

Balrar'-s Insula, ... . .81 

Sect. IX — Italia vel Hesperia, . . ibid 
Gallia Cisalfiinay vel Togata — Cisfiadane and 

Truridfiadane, . . . . 82 

Italia Profiria, .... 86 

Magna Gracia, . . . .91 

Sect. X — Siciiia, Sardinia, Corsica, et ^olae In- 

sulje, . . . . 95 

Sect XI — Rhaetia, Noricum, Pannonia, lUyricum, 

D,;cia, Maesia, et Thracia, . . 98 

Eh ana et Findelicia, . . . 99 

JVor'cum, . . . . 100 

Pannoniuy . . . . 101 

Illyricumy . . . . . 102 

Daria, (Trajana,) . . 104i 

Masia-) . . . . . ... 107, 

Thracia, .110 

Sect. XII — Graecia, 114 

Macedonia, . . . . . 115 

Grcecia Profiria, . . , . . 118 

Pelofionnsun,, ... . . 12f 

Creta et Cyclade Insula, . , 133 

chapter II. 

ASIA. 

Sect. I — Asia Propria, ... , 1 37 

Mysia, Bithynia, Paphlagonia, Pontuty . 138 

L,ydia, Phrygia, Galatuu Cufifmdociay . . . 149 

Caria, Lycia, Pamfihylia, Cilicia, • - 163 



TABLE OF CONTENTS. ix 

Sect. II — Colchis, Iberia, Albania, et Armenia, 173 
Sect III — Syria, . . . .185 

Seot. IV — Mesopoiamia, . *. . 196 

Srct. V— Ar.tbia, . . . • . 203 

Sect. VI— Assyria, 215 

Skct. VU—Bubylouia, 220 

Sect. V III— Persia, . ^ . • 227 

Sect. IX— Cm maiiia, et Gedrosia, . . 233 

Sect. X— M^jiu .236 

Sect Xl— Ai la, Bactriana, el So^Hiana, . . 241 

Sect. Xil — Scyti.la Abiaiictt, ei Serica, . 252 

Sect. Xill— India, et :>iu3e, . • 25!i 



chapter III. 

AFRICA. 

Sect. l-^^o;yptus, .... .283 

Sect. II— iE hiopia, 302 

Sect. Ill— Libya, . .... 312 

Sect. IV — Africa Propria, Numidia, et Mauretania, 315 
Sect. V — Libya, vel Africa Interior, . • 336 



PART IL 

SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

Sect. I — The first age of the Woild, . . 349 

Sect. II — The second age of the World, . 352 

Sect. Ill— The tiiird luxe of ihe World, . 356 

Sect. IN'' — A scheme of the Jtwish camp in the 

Wilderness. . ' . . . 363 

Sect. V — Antcdikiviati Countries, . 365 

Sec T- VI — Fiona the Del.ge lo the Confusion of 

Tongues, .... 368 

Sect. VII— Of the Plantation of the Earth, . 372 

Sect. VIII — The East Counuies, froni ihe time of 

Nirarod till the call of Abraham, . .392 



X /TABLE OF COXTRNTS. 

Sect. IX — Canaan and the neighbouring CountTjr 

tiil t!*i; call of Abraham, . . . 4Q3 

Sect. X — The sojourniiigs of Abraham, Isaac,^ and 

J,, cob, 408 

Sect. XI — The Land of Ejrypt till the Exodus, . 420 
Sect. XII—Tne Ex.,dus, .... 426 

Sect. XHI — Palestine, from the conquest of Joshua, 43 1 



INTRODUCTION. 



SECTION FIRST. 

Progress and extent of Ancient Geografihy. 

ON casting an eye over the Terra Veteribus 
NoTA, as delineated on a single map, we perceive that 
the ancient geographers had some acquaintance with a 
considerable part of the three continents of Asia, Af- 
rica and Europe. 

It will also be observable that their acquaintance was 
much more extensive coastwise^ than inland; their navi- 
gators having carried their commerce to Thyne, the 
capital of Sina^ on the river Senus now Camboja, in the 
ulterior peninsula of India, where their Eoan Ocean 
respects the east; circumnavigated Africaj and pene- 
trated to the Thule^ now Shetland isles: here they ac- 
quired some idea of the Mare Figrum or Northern 
Ocean, which they would fain connect with the Eoan or 
Eastern Ocean by an extension of the Baltic under the 
name of Scythic, jimalchium, or Frozen Ocean, over a 
great part of the north of Europe* and Asia. 



• It will be seen in the detail that the knowledge of the an- 
cients did not extend to the North Oape, eiToneously called 
Rubeas Promontorium. See the maps Terra Veteribus JVota, and 
State of JVations at the Christian ^ra; the latter corrects the 
former as to the northern geography. 
B 



INTRODUCTION. 



PROGRESS AND EXTENT OF 



But this error apart, their minute acquaintance was 
rather confirmed to a somewhat central position be- 
tween the three continents; which, by its seas communi- 
cating with the ocean to the east and the west; and by 
its navigable rivers flowing on every hand from the inte- 
rior of either continent to these seas,\ is peculiarly ap- 
pointed by nature for the nursery of civilization. 

The reason that they knew more of this region, is not 
that it was more populous, but that it was, from advan- 
tages of situation, the theatre of sociability — mother of 
science and refinement: the reason that they knew less of 
the more interior regions, is not that they were less 
populous, but that their inhabitants, from want of more 
abundant channels of communication, were immersed 
in solitude — asylum, of ignorance and barbarism. For, 
though the civilized world of the ancients was populous 
almost to a miracle, yet the remoter regions of either 
continent were in no very inferior degree supplied with 
their barbarous inhabitants; who, comparatively speak- 
ing, confined themselves for the most part within the 
precincis of their own villages, Sec. till the wanton en- 
croachriicnts of the Roman empire roused their impla- 
cable ferocity to destroy it. But to be a little more parti- 
cular on the firogress and extent of our proper subject. 

By ancient geography, (Scripture apart) we under- 
stand, whatever the Greek and Roman writers have 
left us on that subject. And it is observable of it, that 
time has prescribed to its progress, distinct and succes- 
sive periods or ages. 

\ Consult the map Terra Veteribus J\\ta. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ANCIENT GEOGB.Al'HY. 



1st, The information contained in the poems of Ho- 
mer makes the^rs^ age (if we may so speak) of ancient 
geography. Greece, the neighbouring shores of Italy, 
part of Asia, and a small portion of Africa towards 
Egypt, composed the whole of its object. 

2d, Those contracted limits of geography received no 
considerable aggrandizement tiil the conquests of Alex- 
ander the Great; which may form lis second age ov period; 
for the Greeks, before that period, had no knowledge of 
India but its name, and that of the Indus. 

3d, They would have remained equally ignorant of the 
West, if some of their historians had not mentioned the 
navigation of the Phoenicians, about the southern shores 
of Iberia or Spain; which constitutes an epoch in our 
subject that may be entitled its third age. 

4th, The Roman domination, when it extended itself 
in the West, and towards the north of Europe, made us 
acquainted with the different countries of that quarter. 
The parts of Asia and Africa subjected to the same 
power, became also much better known than they had 
been hitherto. Thus what, according to some ancient 
writers, we may call the Roman World, makes the 
fourth and princifial age of ancient geography; which, 
being detailed with most minuteness and precision, of 
course predominates in these pages. 

Nothing more contributed to retard the improvement 
of the ancients in geography, than the opinion. That the 
tarth was habitable only in temfierate regions; for, accord- 
ing to this system, the torrid zone was a barrier that per- 
mitted no communication between the northern tempe- 
rate zone which they inhabited, and the southern. Their 
intelligence being thus confined to a band or zone, they 



INTRODUCTION. 



ERRORS RELATIVE TO THE 



might with propriety call extension from westto east,/e«g"^A 
or longitude; and the more contracted space from north to 
south, width or latitude. Strabo, the most illustrious geo- 
grapher of antiquity, was not undeceived in this opinion, 
which circumscribed the object of his science; he, ne- 
vertheless, extended it to some regions beyond the Tro- 
pic. Ptolemy extended its limits, and even advanced it 
beyond the Equinoctial line. And the Ganges, which 
bounded the investigations of Strabo, on the east, was not 
the line that terminated the geography of Ptolemy. Na- 
vigation had opened the way through the ulterior coun- 
tries as far as that of Sin^e; which we shall make known 
in the sequel of this volume. 

Thus much we conceived it indispensable to say on the 
progress and extent of ancient geography. But as our 
plan will be to commence with the higher northern lati- 
tudes where geographical errors peculiarly abound, there- 
fore, we will also premise this First Part with Mr. 
Pinkerton's remarks on Pliny's geography of the north 
of Europe and Asia; hoping that these, as well as many 
errors of the historic kind, to be noticed in like manner 
in this Introduction, will stand hereafter, in consequence 
of his researches, singularly corrected. 



SECTION SECOND. 

Errors relative to the ancient geograjihy of the north of 
Europe and Asia. 

We have extracted from Pinkerton's Dissertation 
on the Goths, the following information upon this sub- 
ject; his words are — " Pliny's geography of the north is 



INTRODUCTION. 



ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH. 

here given, as the most full and curious of all antiquity. 
The bounds of ancient knowledge on the west and south 
are fixed and clear. On the east, D'Anville has fully settled 
them. But the northern, the most important of all, to the 
history of Europe, D'Anville leaves as Cluverius igno- 
rantly put them. 

« The Rifihaan viountains of Pliny, as of Ptolemy, pal- 
pably run from east to west; as he passes them to go to 
^le Scythic Ocean. It is clear from Ptolemy, that they 
ran along the head of the Tanais and are often named 
with the Tanais by the ancients; for by all ancient accounts 
the Tanais rose in them. But this is nothing to the mat- 
ter. The question is what the ancients thought. And it 
is clear that they often confounded a for est with a chain 
of mountains., as Pliny here does the Hercynian forest. 
No wonder then that in civilized limes no such mountains 
otherwise forests, are to be found. The Rifihean forest^ 
I am convinced, was that now called Volkonski, still 150 
miles long from the west, to Moscow on the east. It is 
also a range of small hills, 

" Timoeus, as we learn from other passages of Pliny, 
called the isle opposite Raunonia by the name of Baltia, 
It is therefore a slip of Pliny when he puts this among 
the nameless isles. What river the ancients called Pa- 
rofiamisus, is doubtful. There was a mountain and region 
Parofiamisus at the head of the Indus. The Amalchian 
was evidently the eastern part of the Scythic Ocean. 
Present Sai'asu,or some other river running north on the 
cast of the Caspian, may be Parofiamisus. 

" The Promontory Rubeas seems to me that on the 
v/est of the mouth of the river Rubo or Dwina, being 
B 2 



10 INTRODUCTION. 



EKRORS RELATIVE TO THB 



the north point of the present Courland. Cluverius, who 
puts it in the north of Lapland shews strange ignorance. 
The ancients knew no more of Lapland than of Ameri- 
ca: and were never further north than Shetland,* and 
the south part of Scandinavia. The Cronian seems here 
the north-east part of the Baltic sea. As Pliny tells us 
repeatedly, in other places, that Baltia or Basilia, was 
the isle where, only, amber was found, it is clearly 
Glessaria of Prussia, not Scandinavia. The isles Oont^ 
Sec, all grant to be those of Oesel, &c., at the mouth oi" 
the Finnish Gulf. 

" Cluverius is so utterly foolish^ as to put the Sevo 
Mons of Pliny, in Norway; in which childish blunder he 
is blindly followed, as usual, by Cellarius and D'Anville, 
which last has not examined one tittle of the ancient 
geography of Germany, though the most important of 
all, to the history of Europe. Pliny's Sevo Monsy is ac- 
tually that chain between Prussia and Silesia, called .4s- 
siburgius Mons, by Ptolemy, and now Zottenburg. In 
the map of modern Germany by Cluverius, this chain is 
fully marked, from the east of Bohemia and Silesia up 
to the Resehout. Tacitus mentions this Sevo Mone 
(though he gives not the name) as dividing the Suevi 
From the north to south. Most ancients regarded the 



* The real Thule or Thyle of the ancients, as D'Anville 
shews. 

I Though we quote it, we do not sanction the abrupt phrase 
of our profound antiquary; who seems, from the tenour of his 
book, to pique himself upon that very exceptionable and un- 
courteous quality of morosenesa. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF THE NORTH. 

Vistula as the eastern bound of Germany, and the Bas- 
terna as a German nation out of Germany; so that the 
Sevo Mons, as running along the Vistula, was on the 
eastern extremity of Germany as Pliny states. 

" The Scandinavia of Pliny, is the largest Scandia of 
Ptolemy, not reaching beyond the Wener lake. Eningia 
may be the south part of Finland, perhaps by the ancients 
believed to be another isle in the Scythian Ocean. The 
Hir-ri gave name to Irland or Virland, in Icelandic ac- 
counts, now Reval. Scirings/ieal, or the rock or town of 
the Scirrij seems to have been present Kronstadt, oppo- 
site St. Petersburg. The gulf Cylifienus is apparently 
that of Finland: Lagus is another name for the south of 
the Baltic or Codanus. Promontorium Cimbrorum is the 
north point of Jutland, Cartris is Wendsyssel on the 
north of Jutland. Burchana is Funen, or Zealand. 

" The Tanais or Don was the ancient, as it is the mo- 
dern boundary of Asia and Europe (about its mouth.) 
Bu't on the north, moderns have extended it to the Ura- 
lian mountains, along the river Oby; while the ancients 
brought it much further west, following the Tanais 
(throughout its course, we presume, as well as that of 
the Turunthus or Duna, from the context). The east 
end of the Gulf of Finland was of course the ancient 
boundary between Asia and Europe. Here then Pliny 
begins, and goes to the east along the shores of a non- 
existent ocean, the Scythic, till he comes to the river 
Volga; which, with many of the ancients, he thought 
was an inlet between the Scythic Ocean and Caspian 
Sea. Lytarmis, which like his Tabis beyond Seres in 
Asia, is a nonexistent promontory, he puts about present 



12 INTRODUCTION. 



OHIGIN AND MIGRATIOHS 



Moscow. The opinion of a Scythic* Ocean seems to have 
prevailed in the eleventh century; for Adam of Bremen 
says people could sail from the Baltic down to Greece. 
It seems also the Ocean of Darkness in Eastern writings. 
1 know not if its existence was not believed in Europe 
till the sixteenth century." 

We will be excusable for alleging, in favour of so pro- 
found an interpreter of ancient authorities, a presump- 
tive evidence of ancient ignorance respecting the north- 
ern regions; such as the well known opinion among the 
ancients, That the earth mas habitable only in temperate 
regions: this alone, might have sufficiently restrained 
their zeal for discovery, to have precluded them from 
an accurate acquaintance higher north than the judgment 
of our author is inclined to admit they possessed. 



SECTION THIRB. 

Origin and Migrations oj" Parent Jiations. 

Previously to entering on the detailof our proper sub- 
ject, it is conceived that infinite advantage will result to 
the student, from a concise view of the distinct races of 
mankind known to the ancients, with their migrations, 
so far as Mr. Pinkerton's " Dissertation on the Goths" 



* Perhaps this was only an error loci of the Frozen Ocean that 
occupies a higher noi'thern latitude, of which some imperfect 
account in all probability had been given by Finnish and Sarma- 
tic emigrants from that quarter. It was very easy at least to 
confound it with the Baltic sea. 



INTRODUCTION. 



OF PARENT NATIONS. 



enables us to speak on so extensive and difficult a sub- 
ject. For without some idea of these dawnings of civil 
history, out of which the first denominations of civil 
geography originate; this would necessarily be obscure 
from beginning to end, as that would equally be, under 
a like circumstance. Such is the reciprocity of light and 
illustration between the different branches of science in 
general, and between history and geography in particu- 
lar. 

As Mr. Pinkerton but slightly hints at the scriptural 
account of the origin of nations; and, speaking of the ac- 
counts of the Scyth£ given by some of the fathers of the 
church, says, " Perhaps it may be thought that these 
ecclesiastical authorities prove too much, as they mark 
the whole immediate descendants of Noah as Scythians; 
and of course might prove all the nations of the earth to 
be Scythians, as by Scripture account they all sprung 
from Noah," therefore the student must regard the fol- 
lowing sketch as derived by Mr. P. from the most ap- 
proved writers of profane history — sacred history being 
consigned afiart as inadequate here. But as this sum- 
mary of ancient geography is intended to be a key to 
general history, both the sacred account of the plantatibn 
of the earth, and sacred geography, &c. form Part the 
Second of this work; where it will appear that the sa- 
cred and profane accounts corroborate each other, much 
more thnn seems to justify our author's neglect of the 
former. 

In the course of the following sketch, the reader will 
observe that the Scythians^ Getg^ or Goths occupy by 
much the greater portion of our attention; but not un- 
justly, as they were not only the progenitors of almost all 



14 INTRODUCTION. 



OHIGIN AND MIGRATIONS 



modern Europe, but of ancient Greece and Rome, as 
well as the greater part of Asia Minor; tfiereby render- 
ing themselves almost as highly distinguished above the 
rest of mankind in ancient, as in modern history. But to 
the point — 

Not to mention the host of authorities and numberless 
quotations given by Mr. P. which he has most laborious- 
ly, and no doubt judiciously examined, in order to restore 
these " historic truths** to light, we shall content oui'- 
selves with giving a plain narrative of what we find to 
our purpose; as it would militate exceedingly against 
the continuity as well as brevity wished to be maintained 
here. Therefore, drawing to a focus the brilliant lights 
irradiating from every page of his invaluable work, we 
gather an idea of seven distinct aboriginal races of men, 
viz. \st, The Chinese^ 2d, The East Indiansy 3d, The 
Scythians, 4th, The Assyrians, 5th, The Sartnatians, 6thj 
The Celts, 7th, The Fins or Laplanders; of which the 
five first were Asiatic, and the latter two European. 

1st, The Chinese. 
Our author informs us that the Chinese and Japa- 
nese are infallibly, as their language and history de- 
clare, a grand aboriginal nation. He also says that the — 
Tartars or Moguls* were a colony from them, and 
that their wars with the Chinese can be traced back to 200 
years before Christ; in Avhich, about 87 years before 
Christ, the Chinese obtained a prodigious vioiory over 



* " Mogul seems to be the rightful appellation for this people 
down to the twelfth century, when the name of Tartar began to 
be applied by us to almost half of Asia." Pinkerton on the Goths. 



INTRODUCTION. 15 



OP PARENT NATIONS. 



them. After this, their vast nations fell into civil wars. 
In process of time, the numerous hordes that were van- 
quished, moved west in two divisions. One division settled 
in the confines of present Persia; while the other , under 
the name of — 

Huns, passed north west over the vast river Walga, 
and poured into Europe about 375 years after Christ, in 
such amazingnumbers as no valour could withstand. They 
first encountered the Alani a Gothic people, whom they 
overpowered, but admitted as allies. The Jlani and the 
other Gothic nations — who, even to the Caledonian woods 
of the Picis, were of large limbs, elegant and blooming 
features, and light hair— were astonished at the very 
forms of these new invaders, distinguished by squat limbs, 
flat noses, broad faces, small black eyes, dark hair, with 
little or no beard; as indeed are the present Tartars. The 
Ostrogoths also yielded to the Hunnic swarms, and were 
admitted as allies, on condition of fighting in their armies. 
The Huns now commanded by Balamir, as they were 
afterwards by three others before the famous Attila, en- 
tered the Vesigoihic territory, and expelled the inhabi- 
tants, who found it jn vain to resist such myriads of war- 
like invaders. But as the Huns came not in upon the 
Scythic settlements, till the fourth century of our jera, 
there is every* reason to conclude that the inhabitants, 
then far advanced in civilization, remained in their pos- 
sessions; for though the Goths who came into the Roman 
Empire are counted only by thousands, those whom the 
Huns found, may be reckoned by millions; and Busbe- 
quius, 'Uth others, shews that the peasants of Crim Tar- 
tary still speak the Gothic. In the year 453, Ardaric, 
king of the Ostrogoths, assisted by the Gepidtc, defeated 



16 INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIK AND MIGSATIOVS 



the Huns, &c. The remainder of the European Huns 
much reduced, were afterwards nearly extinguished by 
the Igours of Siberia; so that in Hungary, whose name 
arose from that people, there is not one Hun. 

2of, The East Indians. 
The East Indians are not Tartars, but a race and 
language of men to themselves. M. D'Anville says that 
*' sciences and polity were found amongthe Indians from 
the earliest limes in which their country was known. The 
enterprises of Cyrus, and of Darius son of Hystaspes,on 
India, preceded by an expedition of Semiramis, and by 
that attributed to Dionysius or Bacchus, have afforded to 
the west no particular knowledge of this country. Nor 
did Europe acquire any geographical acquaintance with 
India till the invasion of it by Alexander." — As the an- 
cient East Indians are noted for migrations to, and colo- 
nising other countries, they claim no further notice here, 

od, The Scijtha, Geta, or Goths. 
The ancient Scythians were aborigines of present 
Persia. Under their king Tanaus,they attacked and sub- 
dued Vexores king of Egypt on the one hand, and con- 
quered India on the other, about 1 500 years before Ninus, 
or 3660 before Christ; extending their empire east and 
west from Egypt to the Ganges, and north and south from 
the Indian ocean to the Caspian sea. About 1500 years 
after, or 2 1 60 years before Christ, Ninus subverted the 
Scythian err,pire and established the Assyrian on its ruins; 
when, by consequence, the Scythe Nomades, a paslo^ 
ral people of the north of Persia, crossed the Araxes and 
Caucasus to settle around the Euxine or Black sea; leav- 
ing behind them tne southern Hcythee or Persians, who 



INTRODUCTION. 



OF PARENT NATIONS. 



are the progenitors of the Persians of the present day. 
This asylum of the Scythians north of the Euxint^ 
corresponding with Little Tartary, Mr. P. in compliance 
with custom, calls ancient Scyihia, as being the Parent 
country of the European or western, as well as of the 
eastern Scythians, who gradually extended from this 
nursery of valorous men, in either direction. We shall 
speak of these two principal divisions of the Scythians 
or Goths, and their colonies, in succession. 

1, Eastern Scythians. But in regard to the eastern 
migration and somewhat retrogade motion of these 
Scythts, in what proportion those to the east of the Cas- 
pian sea, known as Scylhce intra Imaum et Scythe extra 
Imaum.) were derived from the Euxine^ or directly from 
the ancient Scythic empire, seems to rest in a degree of 
uncertainty. In his statement of these eastern settle- 
ments, Mr. P. explicitly says that the Massagci{e and 
Sac<e, who were the Scythx intra Imaum, and the Chats 
or Getes and fabulous Arimasfiit who were the Scyth z 
extra Imaum, on the authority of Diodorus Siculus, 
came respectively from the Palus Mceoiis. He also as 
expressly states that the Bactriuni were Sac£ or old 
ScythcE, who extended thus far during the Sythic e\\\-pire 
in Persia; for Ninus made vi'ar on them. But he speaks 
doubtfully of the Sogdiani and Alargiani, rather inclining 
to derive the former from the source of the JBactriafii, 
and the latter from that of the Massageta. 

Our author also informs us, on the authority of Dio- 

nysius the Geographer, that the positions between the 

Euxine and the Caspian seas, as Albania, Iberia, Colchis^ 

and south of these, Armenia, were Scythic settlements: 

C 



18 INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS 



but Ihat those of Colchis were dispersed by a colony of 
Egyptians about 1480 years before Christ, (afterwards 
the famous Colchians) attracted thither, as were the 
Jrgonauts, by the gold mines of the country. Here also 
a small doubt abides. In Mr. P.'s laudable zeal to prove 
that the Get jE, Goths, and Scythe were one people, 
he omits to inform us whether these settlements were 
made as the Scythians passed over this tract to the 
neighbourhood of the J^alus Maotis, or afterwards, by, 
retrogression. The judgment of every one, however, 
will most probably affirm the first alternative, as migra- 
tions generally leave their traces, though seldom retro- 
grade. 

Let us consider this account of the eastern settle- 
ments of the Scythians sufficient for the relative weight 
of the subject, and return to Parent Scijt/iia, formerly 
called AncieJit or Little Scyt/iia, now Little Tartary, and 
trace their western progress. 

2, Western Scythians. The ScythuE Nomades 
of the north of Persia, who retired from the power of 
Ninus, having attained this fruitful situation about 2000 
years before Christ, had here their first encounter with 
the native Celts known by the appellative of Cimmeriiy 
whom they did not finally expel from their fastness in the 
Tauric Chersonese^ till 640 years before Christ; and] after 
making early settlements in the east, as just seen, they 
tarried here till about 1800 years before Christ, when 
they began to colonize — 

a. Thrace; and thence, Asia Minor, Jllyricum^ and 
Greece; which they completed in 300 years. In the 
neighbourhood of Ti^race, respecting the north, we must 
not confound the nations of lazyges and Roxolani with 



INTRODUCTION. 19 



OF PARENT NATIONS 



the Daciy Maci, and Oeiie or Goths; the former being 
Sarmatic, who came from the north of Asia about 1000 
years before Chiist, and setlled in amity among the lat- 
ter, who were all Scythic. 

It may be deemed almost superfluous to observe that 
Jhe terms Scyt/ia, Ge(a, and Got/is are clearly proven by 
Mr, P. to be convertible; though that of Got/is made its 
appearance only as early as 250 years after Christ, as 
shewn by Mr. Gibbon; whereas Geta was known among 
the Scythians about mount Imaus, with but a slight va- 
riation in the form of Getes^ several centuries earlier. 
And every one knows how extensively the epithet of 
Goths, unjustly opprobrious, has been applied to the 
Scythic nations throughout Europe. 

b. Asia Minor. Those Scythians who passed tke 
Bosporus Thracius, and the Hellespont^ into Asia Minor 
from Thrace, were the Bithynians, Mariandym, Phry- 
gians and all the nations of the kingdom of Pontus—- 
namely, the Rhcebi, Paphlagonians, Chalybes, Tibareni, 
Mossy7ice&ii Peileres, Macrones, Bechiresy Byzeres, and 
C/ialcedonians, about the south of the Euxine: East of 
the Hellespont and jEgaen sea, were the Misyans, Ly- 
dians and Carians. Besides these from Thrace, the 
Lycians, Pamfihilians, &c. came from Greece, being 
branches of the Pelasgi, Hellenes, or Greek Scythians 
yet to be noticed. So that all Asia Minor was settled by 
Scythians, excepting only Cafifiadocia and Cilicia; of 
which the former, on the authority of Dionysius, was 
settled by Assyrians, as was the latter, on the ground of 
rational induction, from proximity of situation; having 
no certain authority for the origin of its inhabitants. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS 



c. Illyricum*. The history of those Scythians who 
iVom Thrace settled the country between the Danube and 
the Adriatic sea, is not a little obscure. Some centuries 
after coming hither, they successively submitted to their 
more thrifty brethren of Macedon and Rome. Excepting 
some Illyrian settlements on the neighbouring shores of 
Italy^ the Scythic migration on this route extended no 
further west; in which direction the Celts still retained 
their Gallic possessions till about 500 years before Christ, 
when the Germans, or northern Scijt/ice, poured in upon 
them; having passed into Germany by a north-west direc- 
tion from Parent Scythia, as is hereinafter explained. 

d. Greece. Those Scythians who went into Greece 
as above mentioned, were called Pelasgi, and afterwards 
Hellenes; as was all Greece known principally by the 
names first of Pelasgia and afterwards oi Hellas among 
its own inhabitants. The Pelasgi were the first posses- 
sors of Greece of whom we have any historic account: 
for the aborigines of Europe penetrated into neither ex- 
tremity of Italy nor Greece. To what eminence the 
Greeks arose in arts and science, only rivalled by their 
Scythian brethren in other ages and countries, is various- 
ly descanted on by Greek antiquaries: and to what ex- 
tent two small Egyptian colonies of Athens and Argos 
led by Cecrops and Danaus, and one Phoenician colony 
of Thebes led by Cadmus, contributed to this eminence, 
will probably ever rest undecided even by the most in- 
defatigable of these enquirers. We have already seen 

* Illyricum, in the enlarged sensfc of Mr. P. extends all along- 
lbs north side of the Adriatic to Gaul; having the Danube north; 
Thrace and Macedon east. 



INTRODUCTION. 21 



OF PARENT NATIONS. 



that this Scyt/iic branch colonized Lycia, Pam/ihilia, and 
other parts of Asia Minor. Nor should we omit to men* 
lion the Greek colony of Massilia, now Marseilles, in 
France, who came from Phocia. a city of lonia^ 600 
years before Christ; not to confound the same with the 
Phoenician colony of Marseilles, of 60 years posterior 
date, as is yet to be noticed. Besides passing eastvvardly 
to Asia Minor, and thence to Marseilles, the Greeks or 
Pdasgi colonized — 

e, Italy. Mr. Pinkerton derives the Scythic settlers 
of Italy from four sources, and makes as many partitions 
of the country, corresponding with the settlements thus 
made; which, in regard to the three first, were about 
1000 years before Chri'st; and 500 years before Christ, 
in regard to the last. Excepting the aboriginal Celts, 
whom they found in the Gallic part, the Scythians were 
the first possessors of Italy. — We shall speak of these 
four partitions in succession; and then proceed to notice 
the Gothic settlements in Germany and the rest of 
Europe. 

I si, The first of the divisions just alluded to, compre- 
hends Gra ia-Magn Cawpania, and Latium; which was 
settled by Pelasgi from Arcadia. Some lime after, a few 
other Pelasgi from Efiirus coming hither, were repulsed 
by these first coionists, who were erroneously thuught 
to be aborigines. With many other proofs of the Greek 
origin of this portion oi Italy, Mr. P. says, « The Latin 
language is a clear proof of the origin of the people, be- 
ing iTierely the Molic dialect of the Greek, as Quintiiian 
remarks, and as the learned well know." 

"id. That part oi li'y which lies opposite \o Illy ri cum 
on the Adriatic sta, a p irt of which was called Peuketia, 
C 2 



INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS 



was settled by the Peuketi from Illyricum, a branch of 
the great Basternic nation of Parent Scythia; who, by the 
by, forming themselves into several other divisions, and 
proceeding in different directions, overran the rest of 
Europe; of which presently- 

Srf, The Etrurians, as we learn from Herodotus, 
V'hom Pliny, Paterculus, and others of the best ancient 
writers follow, were a Lydian colony; and we have just 
been told that the Lydians were Scythians from Thrace 
direct. The Lydians were early polished by their neigh- 
bourhood with the Assyria7i8 of Cafifiadocia; hence the 
'' Etrurians seem to have been skilled in the fine arts 
long before the Latins, as the many ancient pieces pre- 
served, shew." 

4rA, That part of Italy called Cisal/iina Gallia, was set- 
tled by the German Gauls of the Basternic or Scythic 
race, about 500 years before Christ. They expelled the 
aboriginal Celts, who occupied no other part of Italy. But 
this is, in some measure, anticipating the movements of 
the Basternic nation, v/hom we must now attend to, in 
pursuing of the order of the first Scythic progress over 
Europe, by returning once more to the grand store-house 
of European nations; whence we shall proceed with our 
last, and probably largest colonies, to supply — 

f. Germany, Scandinavia, and the rest of Eurofie, 
Mr. Pinkerton enters on this article in the following em- 
phatic, and, we may say, very exulting manner. " We 
are now arrived at the last and most important part of 
this dissertation: and a subject upon which the whole 
modern history of Europe depends. If we cannot shew 
the Germans to have been originally Scyth^e, this dis- 
sertation is inept. If we can, a field of wide curiosity and 



INTRODUCTIOK. 23 



OP PARENT NATIONS 



enquiry opens to the learned of Europe. For, the origin 
of government, manners, laws, in short, all of the anti- 
quities of Europe, will assume a new appearance; and 
instead of being only traced to the woods of Germany, as 
Montesquieu and the greatest writers have done, may be 
iollowed through the long descriptions of the manners, 
&c., of the Sci/t/iians and Thraciana given by Herodotus; 
nay, even up to the aboriginal Scythian empire of Persia, 
And beyond this there is no memorial of human affairs, 
save in Egypt alone, the history of which begins with 
Menes, the first king, about 4000 years before our sera; 
while the earliest appearance of the Scythians in his- 
tory is about 400 years after, when Vexores was king of 
Egypt, and Tanaus of the Scythe — not to mention the 
collateral light derived from the whole history of the 
Greeks and Romans, who were Scythe, as just shewn." 

On this route we shall find the Scythians, Get^, or 
Goths not only peopling all Scandinavia and Germany, 
but extending hence and actually possessing Gaul and 
S/iain 500 years before Christ, as well as Britain and 
Ireland 300 years before Christ, dispossessing the abo- 
riginal Celts almost at pleasure. 

Setting out then from the shores of the Euxine with 
the Scythic migration towards Germany and Scandina- 
via, the Great Basteriiic nation engrosses attention. 
This nation sprung from Peuke, an island in the mouth 
of the Danube, and heart of Parental Scyihia. In their 
gradual migration to'wards the Baltic, after sending a 
branch to Illyricum and Italy, afore-mentioned, the Bas- 
(ernte became so numerous as to extend over one-fifth 
of ancient Germany; in length 500 miles from the Eux- 
ine to the Baltic, and in breadth 150 miles between the 



INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS 



Vistula on the west, and the Miemen and Dneifier on the 
east. It was this Scythian nation with whom the Sar- 
mataj their Asiatic neighbours, were so much con- 
founded by superficial writers; the latter having come 
by detachments into Europe at a posterior date to, and 
settled in amity among, the former, under the names 
of Vencdif Femn^ Roxolani^ lazyges, isfc, of whom 
hereafter. 

Progressing from this extensive tract to the west and 
the north, the name of Basternx seems to be merged in 
those of AtmonU Sitojies, and Peukini. " Of these three 
divisions of Basterme" says Mr. P. " The Atinoni^ if I 
mistake not, spreading west along the Danube, became 
the Southern Basterna^ or those properly and absolutely 
so called by the ancients; while the Sitones and Peukini 
proceeded northward till they arrived at the Baltic sea 
and Scandinavia." In this manner did the Scythic po- 
pulation diffuse itself over Scandinavia and Germany, 
and penetrate into Gaul, the Gallic part of Italy, and 
Spain, as early as 500 years before Christ. Having now 
pervaded the whole of the European continent — besides 
making the famous expedition into Asia minor, under 
Lomnorius and Lotarius, to found the kingdom Ga/a^za, 
which consisted of a detachment of those Gauls who 
had invaded Italy under Brennus — they yet find the iso- 
lated spots of Britain and Ireland to the west, where 
they make settlements 300 years before Christ. Of 
these settlers, the Piks and Bclgi are particularly distin- 
guished. The Piks passed from Scandinavia to the north 
oi Britain; and if they were not the immediate descen- 
dants of the Peukini, whom w e have traced from the 
island of Peuke in the mouth of the Danube, it is very 



INTRODUCTION. 25 



OF PARENT NATIONS. 



evident that with so plausible a pretext, " etymological 
mania" would find very little difficully in deriving Piks 
from Peuke. The Belgtz went from Qiaul to the south of 
Britain^ diiving before them the scanty remains of the 
Celts^ and in like manner settled in Ireland about the 
period above noted. The Scythic or Gothic language 
and manners have also been much preserved in the 
"vvilds of Iceland; which was colonized from Norway in 
the ninth century, and might also be called Scythic, if 
this settlement be not of too modern a date. 

This account of the settlements of the Get^, Scy- 
THiE, or Goths in Europe, forms Mr. Pinkerton's 
" Eiiochs of the Jirat Gothic progress over Europe" His 
" Epochs of the second Gofliic progress from Getia and 
froiii Germany over Europ'*^ relate to the inimdation of 
these nations, who had remained in a semibarbarous 
state, upon their more refined brethren of the south; in- 
volving the Roman empire in ruin. The substance of 
these epochas shall be joined hereto; and for a clear elu- 
cidation of them, nothing can be more appropriate than 
the two maps dedicated to these subjects, which we have 
designed and engraved {ov onv Ancient Geographical ^nd 
Historical Atlas. 

4th, The Assyrians, 

All that we see relating to this head in the dissertation 
of our author^ is the following; which I presume is suffi- 
cient at least for the object of this abstract. 

BELus,the Nimrod of scripture, is reputed the founder 
of the Tower of Babel at Babylon, which was followed by 
the dispersion of mankind: his son Ninus was certainly 
the founder of the Assyrian empire, whose capital was 



INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS 



Babylon^ and the dispersion of the Scythians followed. 
But Nimrod was of the race of Ham by Scripture ac- 
count. To this race also, belonged the fathers of the na- 
tions along the east end of the Mediterranean, the Arabic 
gulf or Red sea, and through all Arabia. And certain it is 
that the Arabic is a dialect of the Grand Assyriari Ian- 
guage^i as are the Syrian, Phoenician, Hebretv, Chaldce, 
Co/itic, Abyssinian, Sec, all sister dialects: and the Assy-- 
rians who overturned the Scythian empire, formed one 
great language or race of men, extending along the east 
end of the Mediterranean and Arabian seas, to the Ery- 
thraean sea, gulf of Persia, and river Euphrates. From 
them the Egyfitians and While Ethiopians must also have 
sprung, as their language and situation declare. From 
this we are authorised to consider as branches of the As- 
syrian RACE, the Egyptian colonies of Colchis, of Athens, 
and of Argos: also the Phoenician colonies of Thebes, in 
Gi'eece; of Hijifio, Utica, and Carthage, in Africa; of 
Massilia, in Gaul; and of Gades, in Spain (who extended 
their commerce into Britain and Gaul long ere Scandi- 
navia and Germany were at all known to the Greeks or 
Romans): and the Aquitani, in Gaul, who are traced back 
as far as Arabia, whence they passed tlirough Africa 
under the name of Mauri, through Spain under the 
name of Jberi, into Gaul under that of Aquitani; where 
they were found by Julius Caesar, making counter strokes 
with the Bclgx, upon the ill fated Celts: and that the great 
progenitor of this extensive family of mankind, accord- 
ing to scripture, was Ham.* But to be more particular 
of the Egyptian and Phoenician colonies — 

* It need not be objected to this induction, that Ashur, 



INTRODUCTION. 27 



OF PAREKT NATIONS. 



The Egyptian colony of Colchis was left there by 
Sesostris, king of Egypt, when he was extending his 
arms in the east, 1400 years before Christ. That of 
Jthens was conducted by Cecrops, a native of Sais in 
Egypt, 1556 before Christ. He is said to have introduced 
the laws and customs of Egypt among the native Pelas- 
gi, and to have founded Athens. That of Argos was con- 
ducted by Danaus 1475 years before Christ; having 
reigned in Egypt jointly with his brother Egyptus, till 
in consequence of a difference between them, he sailed 
with his fifty daughters, in search of another settlement. 
He was hospitably received by Gelanor, king of Argos, 
whom he afterwards dethroned, by intriguing witii his 
disaffected subjects. 

The Phoenician colony of Thebes was conducted by 
Cadmus, son of Agenor, king of Phoenicia^ 1280 years 
before Christ, who was sent on a fruitless search for his 
sister Europa, stolen by Jupiter, with orders not to re- 
turn without her, as the fable goes. He is reputed to 
have founded Thebes in consequence of this unsuccess- 
ful mission. The PAffmczans settled Utica 1200 years 
before Christ; and Carthage, \inder the conduct of Dido, 



whowasoftliellneofSHEMjWasthefatherof the Assyrians. If 
he was the reputed father of this people, Nineveh was his capi- 
tal; whereas Babylon was founded and peopled by Nimrod the 
son of Ham, which afterwards superceded, and involved Nine- 
veh in its empire. So that though the name of Ashur has pre- 
vailed in a historical point of view, in the denomination of tliat 
people, over that of Nimrod; yet we may fairly conclude that the 
posterity of the lattei', if they did not irradicate, at least effaced, 
by assimilation, their national character. 



INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGHATIONS 



from Tyre, about 800 years before Christ. They settled 
the island of Gades, in Spain, 1200 years before Christ; 
and Ala.'isilia, in Gaul, 5 39 before Christ. 

The reader now perceives how extensively the Scy- 
thian and Assyrian races intermixed in Asia Minor, 
and in Greece in particular. And observing that the 
latter had the advantage of the former in civilization and 
arts, wherever they united, he will be inclined to demur 
on the title of preference given the Scythic, by Mr. P., 
over all other races of mankind. But granting the higher 
distinction of the Phoenicians and Egyptians about the 
" Efiochs of the first Scythic progress over Eurofie" znd 
passing by the renown that the Scythic race attained in 
Greece and Rome, which is plausibly attributed to their 
neighbors of the Assyrian race, the present refinement 
of Europe and America, which Mr. P., calls " a Scythic 
emfiire of the present day though not under one sovereign " 
far surpasses the social effort of any previous empire- 
waving the mortifying anticipation of the savage fate that 
seems once more universally iutpending. With their 
unjust aversion to Assyrian rivalship, how much more 
then should the feeliogs of our Scythian monopolisers 
of human excellence revolt at the opinion of Major Ren- 
nell, that the ancient Egyptians had black skin and crii^p- 
ed hair as the degraded sluves of America; of which he 
cites the far-famed Sesosti is as a special instance.* Such 
a position scarcely deserves the epithet of hypothetical, 
much less lo gain credence in defiance of the Egyptian 
Mummies as proofs of the contrdi-y. 



See RennLll's Herodotus. 



INTRODUCTION. 29 



OF PARENT NATIONS. 



5th, The Sarmatx. 

" The Sarmat.^ were in all appearance, originally, 
possessors of south-west Tartary, but expelled by the 
Tartars. For their speech, the Sarmatic or Sclavonic, is 
remote from the Tartaric; and their persons, full of grace 
and majesty, are different from those of the Tartars: so 
that they are not of Tartaric origin. Besides proving 
that they are not of Tartaric origin, many reasons are 
adduced by Mr. P. to shew that they are an original race. 

They entered Europe about 1000 years before Christ; 
for they were far behind the Scythes in their progress, 
and it is clear that upon their entry, they found the greatei' 
part of Europe occupied by the Scythes., who bounded 
them on the south-west and north-west. Hence, in pro- 
cess of time, several of the Sarmatic and Scythic tribes 
of their frontier, settled among each other, and gene- 
rally waged war in alliance. Those of the Sarma7\<e 
who are found entirely within the Scythic territory, aro 
three nations of lazyges, viz. the lazyges EneocadU, on 
the east of the moulli of the Tyras; the lazyges Mtsota:, 
on the north of the Maotis; and chiefly, the lazyges Me- 
tanasta, between the Danube and Teiss, above rannonia. 
Besides these, we find several other Sarmatic nations 
within the territory above assigned to the Baster?iic na- 
tion of Scythte as we proceed northward upon the Baltic, 
such as the Fenedi, the Hirri, and the Fenni. This 
country, commonly known as Germano-Sarmatia, was 
the ultimate tract of Europe on the north-east in those 
remote periods, though in more modern times, that 
boundary runs much further to the north-east. 

A great Sarmatic nation, the Roxolani, gave name 
to Russia: and that part of Poland, far from Russia, call. 
D 



30 INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS 



ed Red or Black Russia, took its name from a part of the 
Roxolani who had penetrated to that corner and settled. 
Their posterity, as may be said of the Sakmat^e in ge- 
neral, still subsist in the inhabitants of Russia and Po- 
land. 

&th, The Celts. 
We are informed that the Celts were the most an- 
cient inhabitants of Europe that can be traced; and were 
to the after settlers, what the aboriginal savages of Ame- 
rica are to the European settlers there. These people 
form themselves under two grand divisions. 1st, The 
Celts properly and peculiarly so called; and 2d, The 
Cimbri, Cimmerii, or Cumri. 

1. The Celts /iro^er, occupied that part of Europe 
which lies west and south of the Rhine, even beyond 
the Pyrenees; but extended not beyond the Gallic part 
of Italy. They were finally pent up in the extremity of 
Gaul, by the Scythians, under the name Belgce, on the 
north; and the Jgziitarii, a Mauric people, on the south; 
whence a portion of them were pursued by a portion of 
the Belgce into the south of Biitain, about 300 years be- 
fore Christ; and again driven thence about the same 
time to Ireland, by their brethren the Cimbri or Cumri, 
who were the first inhabitants, and presumed by Mr, P. 
to hi.ve come to the north of Britain from the opposite 
shores of Germany, at a very remote period. 

2. The Cimmeuii, Cimbui, or Cumri, are by much 
the larger division of the original Celtic inhabitants of 
Europe, and are supposed to spring from a northern 
progress of the proper Celts. They possessed all an- 
cient Germany, according to the enlarged boundary of 
Mr. P., when they were disturbed in their peaceful pes- 



INTRODUCTION. 31 



OF PARENT NATIONS. 



sessions by the obtruding Scyi/iia7is, at intervals, from 
2000 to 500 years before Christ. 

At the first Scythic pressure from the east, if not at 
an earlier period, a part of the Cimbri or Cumri, of the 
north-west corner of Germany, are supposed by our au- 
thor to have passed into the north of Britain; being the 
oldest inhabitants that can be traced, and leaving Cumraic 
names to rivers and mountains even in the furthest 
Ebtides. (Hebrides or Western Isles), Of these we are 
told that the present Celto- Welch and Highlanders of 
Scotland are remains; as are the Celt-Irish the remains 
of the Gael or proper Celts^ who p^issed from Gaul to 
Britain, and were promoted thence to Ireland, by the 
Cumri^ about 300 years before Christ, as just mention- 
ed. These Celt-Irish, Celto-Welch, and the Highland- 
ers of Scotland are the only Celtic remains that Mr, 
P. will allow of in all Europe. 

The few remaining Cimbri of this corner of Germa- 
ny were every where surrounded by the Scytha about 
100 years before Christ, when the Scandinavian Scythse 
poured down upon them, and drove them and the Teu- 
tones (of Scythic origin) before them. The southern 
Germans permitted them to pass through their territo- 
ries in search of new habitations. They ruled Gaul and 
ravaged Spain awhile, till turning upon Italy, they vvere 
almost extinguished by the sword of Marius 102 years 
before Christ. 

We have already seen, incidentally, (as indeed have we 
seen nearly the whole of this article on the Cklts) that a 
part of the Cimbri or Cimmerii for a long while defended 
themselves against the Scyth<s in the Tauric Cherso- 
nese, or were neglected by them till 646 years before 



INTRODUCTION. 



ORIGIN AND MIGRATIONS OF PARENT NATIONS. 

Christ; when passing the Cimmerian Bosphorus, they 
made their way into Asia Mit)or over the mountains of 
Caucasus. The Scythians pursued them, vanquished, 
and perhaps extinguished them. 

7th^ The Fins or Lafilanders. 
Mr. p. endeavours to distinguish between the Fins 
and the Fenni; as he Avould shew that the former were 
aboriginals of Finland, Lapland, &c.; and the latter a na- 
tion of Sarmatic origin. But with due deference, I think 
his words are inconclusive, or rather inclining to a con- 
trary opinion, that theij are one and the same peofile^ 
of the Sarmatic race. For, notwithstanding he says, se- 
verally, that " the northern Fins including Laplanders^ 
seem to have been infallibly aborigines of their country; 
for they are so weak, so peaceable, and their soil so 
wretched, that they could have vanquished no nation, 
and no nation could envy them their possessions in 
climes beijond the solar road;" and speaking of the west- 
ern progress of the Scythts, that " here every European 
is personally interested, save the Sarmatians of Russia 
and Poland; save the Celto-Welch of England, the Celt- 
Irish of Ireland, and the Highlanders of Scotland; and 
save the Fi?is of Hungary, Finland., and Lafiland;" yet 
he also states elsewhere, speaking of the Huns, Sec. , that 
" the remainder of the European Huns was but v^ry 
small, and afterwards nearly extinguished by the Igours 
of Siberid — and the Hungarians proper, are Igours, a 
Finnish people, who settled there in the ninth century." 
It needs only to be demanded, if these /'mJZiVi Igours 
from Sibeiia, the quarter " whence the Sarmatians were 
expelled by the Tartars," were the ^^ Fins of Hungary, 
Lapland, and Finland," why should Mr, P. consider 



INTRODUCTION. 33 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



these as aboriginals of Finland and Lapland, whilst he 
distinguishes the Finnish Igours, or Fen7ii as of Sarmatic 
origin? Perhaps our author did not consider this point 
to be of much moment in a dissertation on the Goths, 
or he had been less ambiguous. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 

We cannot forbear subjoining here, what Mr. Pink- 
erton says on the origin and corruption of the Feudal 
System; though, without disparagement to its military 
convenience and utility in the periods of simplicity out 
of which it arose, we should unanimously accord its ex- 
iingidshed state, as at least affording an opportunity of. a 
more popular policy (however partial to the United 
States in its adoption as yet), notwithstanding Mr. P.'s 
s/iecious regret of its fate. 

He says — " The Feudal System has been treated of by 
many writers, but so uncommon a quality is penetration, 
that all of them to this day have confounded two grand 
divisions in its history which are totally dissimilar. These 
divisions are, ist, T/ie Feudal System; 2d, T/ie corrupt- 
ed Feudal Sysiein. The former extends from the earli- 
est account of time, through the early history of Greece 
and Rome till the progress of society changed the man- 
ners of these nations; and through the early history of 
the Goths and Germans who overturned the Roman 
empire, down to the eleventh century. At this periodcom- 
menced the corrup.ted feudal system, which lasted till the 
fifteenth century, when the feudal syste?ny began, after 
its corruption, to dissolve quite away. The corruption 
of the feudal system took place soon after the petty king- 
D 2 



34 INTRODUCTION. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



doms of the former ages were united into great monar- 
chies, as the heptarchies in England became, subject to 
our monarch; and so in other countries. This corrup- 
tion is no more the feudal system than any other cor- 
ruption is the substance preceding corruption, that is 
quite the reverse: and yet, such is modern superficiality, 
that it has been termed the feudal system; and all writers 
estimate the feudal system by its corruption only, just as 
if we should judge of a I'epublic by its condition when 
changed into an aristocracy. About the eleventh cen- 
tury, by the change of small kingdoms into one great 
rifionarchy, and by a concatenation of other causes, which 
it would require a volume to detail, the feudal system 
corrufited (and corrufitio optimi fiessima) into a slate ol" 
aristocratic tyranny and oppression. Before that period 
no such matter can be found. The greatest cause was, 
that nobility and estates annexed, were not hereditary till 
that time, so that the great were kept in perpetual awe; 
and that check was removed, before the cities had at- 
tained such privileges and powers as to balance the no- 
bility. In ancient Greece and Italy, confined spots, 
cities were from the first the'grand receptacles of soci- 
ety. To the want of cities, the subjection of the people 
to their lords and all the corrujUed feiulal system is ow- 
ing. To cities the ruin of that corrufited feudal system 
(generally ci&Wc^ the feudal systcr.i) is solely to be ascrib- 
ed. Of the corrupted feudal system nothing shall be ad- 
ded here, as it commenced at a late period, and is foreign 
to my work; save one or two remarks on chivalry, an in- 
stitution quite misunderstood. It was so heterogeneous 
to Xhe feudal system^ that, had the latter lasted pure, the 
former would never have appeared. But as it is often 



INTRODUCTION. 35 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



SO decreed, that out of the corruptioti of a constitution, a 
remedy for that corruption springs, such was the case in 
chivah'y, an institution which does honor to human na- 
ture. The knighthood was not hereditary, but an honour 
of personal worth. Its possessors were bound to help 
the oppressed, and curb the tyrannic spirit of the here-- 
ditary great, those giants of power and romance. Had 
the ridicule of Cervantes appeared three centuries soon- 
er, we must have branded him as the greatest enemy to 
society that ever wrote. As it is, a sensible French 
writer well observes that it now begins to be questioned 
whether his book be not worthy of execration. All pro- 
fessions have their foibles; but ridicule ought never to be 
exerted against society. Cervantes envied the success 
of the romancers; but ought not to have derided an insti- 
tution so beneficial, because even fables concerning it 
had the fortune to delight his cotemporaries. — But to 
give a remark or two on the genuine feudal system, which 
was purely democratic, as the corrupted was aristocratic, 
" M. D'Hancarville rather fancifully dates the feudal 
system from the first Scythic empire, for Justin says, 
His igitur Jsia per mille quingenioa annos vectigalisywzV,- 
' Asia was tributary to them for one thousand five hun- 
dred years: and especially Asiam perdomitam vectigalem 
fecere modico tributa, magis in titulum imperii quam in 
victoria preminum. This last is a definition of homage: 
and the feudal system was that of the Persians, who were, 
and are, Scythts or Goths, as ancient authors and their 
offif speech testify. Xenophon tells us that, when the 
Yovmger Cyrus came to Cilicia, he was met by Epyaxa, 
the beautiful wife of the satrap, who, according to the 
custom of the east, presented her acknowledged liege 



36 INTRODUCTION. 



THE FEUDAL SYSTEM. 



lord and superior ^vith gold, silver, and other precious 
gifts. Indeed the feudal system, about which so much 
noise is made, is the natural fruit of conquest, and is as 
old in the world as conquest. A territory is acquired, 
and the state or the general bestows it on the leaders 
and soldiers, on condition of military service, and of to- 
kens acknowledging gratitude to donors. It was known 
to Lycurgus; for all the lands of Sparta were held in 
military tenure. It was known to Romulus, when he re- 
gulated Rome. It was known to Augustus, when he 
gave lands to his veterans, on condition that their sons 
should, at fifteen years of age, do military service. The 
reason it did not preponderate and corrupt in Greece and 
Rome was, that it was stifled by the necessary effects of 
cities as abovementioned. In Persia, where there were 
no cities of any power or privilege, it preponderated and 
corrupted at an early period. 

" The feudal system, whether in its original democra- 
cy, or corrulUed into aristocracy, must limit the poWer 
of kings; for men who hold their possessions on military 
service must, of course, have arms in their hands: and 
even in absolute governments the soldiers are free; wit- 
ness the pretorian bands of imperial Rome, and the 
Turkish janisaries. By the feudal system every man held 
arms and freedom in his hands. Montesquieu has begun 
his account oi the fetcdal system with that of the ancient 
Germans, given by Tacitus; and prides himself with 
leaving off where others began. A Avriter more profound 
would leave off where INIontesquieu begins, &c."— So 
much for our author's remarks on a system whose prin- 
ciples have communicated a tincture to almost every 
constitution of modern Europe. I shall now transcribe, 



INTRODUCTION. 37 



Jirsi, The Epochs at which those Scythic hordes, who 
brought this system from Persia, made their first inroads 
upon Europe; and secondly, The Epochs at which their 
posterity, with whom it corrupted, effected, during a 
period of about , two hundred years, such wonderful 
changes in the civilized world, as involve the Roman 
empire in ruin, together with most of the stupendous 
monuments of arts and sciences, among which letters 
were the greatest sufferers — thereby causing the busi- 
ness of civilization, in a measure, to be commenced 
anew. 

I. EPOCHS OF THE FIRST GOTHIC PROGRESS 
OVER EUROPE.* 

The Scythians, whom the dawn of history dis- B.C. 
covers in present Persia under their king Tanaus, 
attack Vexores king of Egypt, conquer Asia, 
and establish the Scythian empire 1500 years be- 
fore Ninus, or ----- - 3660 

Ninus, first monarch of the Assyrian empire, es- 
tablished the same by subverting the Scythian; 
when by consequence, the Scythse Nomades of the 
north of Persia cross the river Araxes; and Mount 
Caucasus and settle around the Euxine sea, - 2160 



* The reader will bear In mind (as the terms "^rst and se- 
cond Gothic progress" suggest) that the Goths of this/rsf sec- 
tion, werfe the Scythse Nomades of Persia, who overran Europe 
as spoken of in this and the preceding pages; and that the 
Goths of the following second section, were the associations of 
their savage progeny, (with the addition of Huns and Sarma- 
tians), who again overran Europe in the mamier there detailed. 



38 INTRODUCTION. 



EPOCHS OF GOTHIC 



The Scythians begin settlements in Thrace, Illy- b.c. 
rium, Greece, and Asia Minor, - - - 1800 

The Scythians have completely peopled Thrace, 
Illyrium, Greece, and Asia Minor, - - 1500 

The Scythians have peopled Italy, , - - 1000 

The Scythians have peopled Germany and Scan- 
dinavia, as well as a great part of Gaul and Spain, 500 

The Belgae, of Scythic origin, pass into the south 
of Britain and Ireland, 300 

The Piks, likewise of Scythic origin, pass into 
the north of Britain, 300 



II. EPOCHS OF THE SECOND GOTHIC PROGRESS OVER 
EUROPE. 

A.D. The Vesigoths* or Western-Getse were the 

250, Goths who poured into Dacia, ravaged it, and 
marched on, south, over the Danube into Thrace. 

251, Decius is defeated and slain in Maesia by the 
Vesigoths or Western-Getse. 

252, Gallus purchases peace of the Goths by an an- 
nual tribute. They return to their own country. 

260, The Franci, or free-men, a confederation of the 
Chauci Cherusci, Catti (who were great nations of 
Germany), Bructeri, Usipii, Tencteri, Salii, Ansi- 
varri, &;:c. (who were smaller nations) burst through 

* The Getae or Parental Goths were the very people whom 
Darius found 500 years before Christ, as Herodotus shews, in the 
identical country whence they now issue. Soon after this expe- 
dition of Darius, we find the Gethse or Goths divided into Vesi- 
goths or western Goths, on the west of the Boristhcnes; andOstro- 
goths or Alani (a Scythic nation), on the east of the Boristhenes. 



INTRODUCTION. 39 



PROGKESS OVER EUROPE. 



A.D. Gaul, and ravage Spain: a part passing over into 
Africa. 
The Alamanni, (all-men, men of all tribes, or 

260, whole'7neny &c.) a confederation of several tribes, 
of the vast German nations of the Suevi, invade 
Italy, and return laden with spoil. 

260, The Ostrogoths seize on the small kingdom ef 
the Bosporius Cimmerus which had long subsisted 
under Roman protection: afterwards in one naval 
expedition they take Trebisond, and ravage the 
Euxine shores; in a second, moving westward, 
they plunder Bilhynia; and in a third they ravage 
Greece. 

269, With another naval armament the Ostrogoths 
land in Macedonia. Claudius the emperor advanc- 
ing against them, fought a great battle at Naissu*^ 
in Dardania, and conquering them, obtained the 
surname of Gothicus. 

272, The Vesigoths, who extended over the north 
and west of Dacia, forced Aurelian to surrender 
that province. 

272, The Almanni again invade Italy, but are re- 
pulsed by Aurelian. 

276, The Alani invading Pontus, are defeated by 
Tacitus. 

278, Probus builds a wall from the Rhine to the Dan- 
ube about 200 miles long, to protect the empire 
from the German nations. 

322, The Vesigoths no longer content with Dacia, 
pour into Illyricum, but are expelled by Constan- 
tine I. 

3S1, The Vandals, also an association of Suevian 



INTRODUCTION. 



EPOCHS OF GOTHIC 



A.D. tribes, having found Germany open by the frequent 
transitions of the Franks and Alamanni south-west, 
had gradually spread south-east, till they bordered 
on the Vesigoths, and had many conflicts -with 
thcra. 

331, Coiistantine I. again repels the Goths and con- 
quers a few Sarmatians. 

355, The Franks and Alamanni pass the Rhine and 
ravage Gaul; but are conquered and repelled by 
Julian. 

366, The Alamanni again invade Gaul, and are again 
defeated. 

367, Ulphilas, bishop of those Goths who had been 
allowed by Constantine II. to settle in Msesia, trans- 
lates the Scriptures into Gothic; a part of which 
translation now remains, and before the year 400 
most of the Gothic nations in the Roman empire 
and on its frontiers, became Christians. ' 

370, The Burgundians, a Vandalic race, who appeared 
under this name on the south-west of Germany, 
about present Alsijce, invade Gaul. 

370, The Saxones, a Vandalic race also, and whom 
Ptolemy first mentions at the mouth of the Elbe, 
ravage the coasts of Gaul and Britain. 

370, The Piks, a German Gothic people from Scan-' 
dinavia, ravage the north of Britain, and with their < 
„ confederates the Scots, advance even to London 
where they are lepelled by Theodosius, general of 
Valeniinian, to their ancient possessions beyond 
the Clyde and Forth. 

370, Hermanric, king of the Ostrogoths or eastern 
Getge, conquering the Vesigoths, the Heruli and 



INTRODUCTION, 41 



PROGRESS OVER EUROPE. 



A.D. Venedi of Poland, and the iEstii of Prussia, -with 
many other nations, is compared to Alexander the 
Great. 

375, The Huns burst at once from Tartavy upon the 
dominions of the Alani and Ostrogoths, whom they 
conquer, and admit as allies to fight in their armies. 

376, The Huns enter the Vesigothic territory; on 
which the inhabitants, conscious of inferiority, seek 
the protection of the emperor Valcns, and gain 
admittance into the Roman territory of Msesia, 
when, being refused provisions, they revolt. 

377, The Goths penetrate into Thrace. 

378, On the 9th of August was fought the famous 
battle of Adrianbple, in which Valens was de- 
feated and slain by the Goths. But the Goths fall- 
ing into intestine divisions, were in the course of 
a dozen years repelled into Pannonia; an army of 
40,000 Goths being retained for the defence of the 
empire. 

395, The Gotbs unanimously rise under the com- 
mand of the great Alaric. 

396, Alaric ravages Greece. 

^00 403, Alaric invades Italy — is defeated by Still- 

cho» who was himself a Vandalic Goth. 

406, Radagaisus, at the head of a large army of Ger^ 
man nations, viz, Vandals, Suevi, Burgundians> 
&c, invades Italy. He is likewise defeated by Stili- 
cho, but the remains of his army ravage Gaul. 

408, Alaric again invades Italy;— besieges Rome 
thrice, and at length takes it in 410, in which year 
he died. The moderation of the Goths is highl„ 



42 INTRODUCTION. 



EPOCHS or GOTHIC 



A.D. praised by several cotemporary writers. The mo- 
numents of art suffered not so much from them, 
as from time and barbarous pontiffs. 

412, Ataulphus, brother-in-law to Alaric, and his 
elected successor, makes peace with the Romans, 
and marches the Vesigoths into the south of Gaul, 
which they possess for a long time. 

415, The Suevi, Vandals, and Alani, having in 409 
penetrated from the south-west of Germany into 
Gaul, which they ravaged, were afterwards forced 
by Constantine, brother-in-law of Honorius, to 
abandon Gaul, and pass into Spain. Ataulphus, 
king of the Vesigoths, now leads his forces against 
them; conquers them, and restores Spain to the 
Romans, with the exception of Gullicia, which the 
Suevi and Vandals still retained. 

420, The Franks, Burgundians, and Vesigoths obtain 
a permanent seat and dominion in Gaul. The first 
in Belgic Gaul, on the north, the second in Lug- 
dunensis and present" Burgundy, in the middle; the 
last in Narbonensis and Aquitain, on the south. 

429, The Vandals of Spain pass into Africa under 
Genseric, their king, and establish the Vandalic 
kingdom there, which endured 96 years, when il 
was terminated by the conquest of the celebrated 
Roman general Belisarius. 

430, The great Attila, king of the Huns, begins to 
reign about this time. His fame chiefly sprung 
from the terror he spread into the Roman empire; 
his conquests have been ridiculously magnified. On 
the east the Ostrogoths, the Gepida;, and Heruli, 
obeyed him; as did the Rugii, and Thuringi on the 



INTRODUCTION. 43 



PROGRESS OVER EUROPE. 



.D. vest. His domains were vast; but he turned with 
scorn from the barren north, while the south af- 
forded every temptation. 
449, "The Vetae or Jutes arrive in Britain and seize 

on a corner of Kent. 
460, They increase and found the kingdom of Kent, 
477, The first SaKons arrived in Britain and founded 

the kingdom of South Saxons. In 
495, The West Saxons arrive 1 in Britain. In 
527, The East Saxons arrived in Britain. In 
547, The first Angli came, under Ida, to Bernicia 

in Britain. In 
575, The East Angles appeared in Britain. In 
585, Foundation of Mercia; which Beda says was 
an Anglic kingdom, but seems to me a Frisian, 
as we know that the Frisi were of t. e nations 
who seized Britain, though omitted by Beda, 
who was an Anglus, and gives thai name most 
improperly. 
11, Attila invades Gaul and besieges Orleans; the. 
grand battle of Chalons, the Campi Calalaimici, is 
fought. This conflict, the most prodigious and 
important ever joined in Europe in any age, was 
between Attila on the one hand with his innumera- 
ble army of Huns, Ostrogoths, Rugii, Thuringi; 
on the other, ^tius with Romans, and Theodoric 
with Vesigoths, Alani, Saxons, Franks, Burgundi- 
ans, Armoricans, Sec. Attila is totally defeated and 
forced to retreat, 'caving 150,000 of his army on 
the field, at the smallest computations. Had he 
conquered, all Europe would now be Hunnish or 
Turkish, instead of Scythic or Gothic: and from 



44 INTRODUCTION. 



EPOCHS OP GOIHIC 



A.D. the polygamy &c., of the Huns, inimical to the 
Christian faith, it is likely, (Divine causes apart) we 
had all been Mahometans — so much may depend 
on one hour. • 

452, Aitila again comes upon Italy, but spares Rome. 
He is again defeated by Torismond, king of the 
Vesigoths; and dies the next year. His vast em- 
pire, being now divided among his discordant sons, 
falls at once like a meteor that passes over one half 
the globe and then in an instant vanishes forever. 

453, Ardaric, king of the Ostrogoths, assisted by the 
Gepidae, defeats the Huns, whom he had abaiwion- 
ed in Pannonia; seizes the palace of Attila, with 
all Dacia and lUyricum, The remainder of the 
European Huns was but small, and afterwards near- 
ly extinguished by the Igours of Siberia, In Hun- 
gary there is not one Him, though the name arose 
from the Huns. The Hungarians proper are 
Igours, a Finnish people, who settled there in the 
ninth century. 

455, Genseric, king of the African Vandals, takes 
Rome. 

456, Theodoric, king of the Vesigoths, defeats the 
Suevi in Spain. 

462— .472, Euric, successor of Theodoric, make.s 
conquests in the north-west of Gaul. Save only 
Gallicia, which the Suevi held, and which was af- 
terwards united to the Gothic empire about 550, 
by Leovigild — Euric subdues all Spain, and thus 
begins the Gothic empire there; which lasted till 
713, \then the Moors conquered the Goths and 
maintained part of their Spanish domains till the 



INTRODUCTION. 45 



PROGRESS OVER EUROPE. 



A. I), end of the fifteenth century. The present Spa- 
niards are descendants of the Vesigoths, Romans, 
and Iberians. 

475, Odoacer at the head of the Turcilingi, Scyrri, 
Heruli, and other mixed Sarmatic and Gothic 
tribes, terminates the Roman empire in the west; 
and reigns at Rome fourteen years. 

490, Theodoric the Great, king of the Ostrogoths in 
Pannonia, vanquishes Odoacer, and rules Italy, 
which is now overwhelmed with Ostrogoths. 

490 — 508, The Franks, under Clovis, subdued the Ve- 
sigoths in Gaul, and the Burgundians; an event 
with which properly commences the French king- 
dom. 

400 — 453, The Lombards came from the centre of 
Germany, thence moving south-east till they settle 
in Pannonia about 400 years after Christ, or per- 
haps after Attila's death, or about 453, when the 
Gepidse of whom ancient authors call the Lom- 
bards or Langobardi a part, seized Dacia. In 
Pannonia the Lombards remained till about 

570", When under Alboin they seized on the north of 
Italy; afterwards holding almost the whole, save 
Rome and Ravenna, till 

773, When Desiderius the last king was vanquished 
by Charlemagne. The present race of Italy spring 
from the ancient Romans, Ostrogoths, and Lom- 
bards. 



E 2 



EPITOME 

OF 

ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY. 



PART I. 

PROFANE GEOGRAPHY. 

CHAPTER I. 
EUROPE. 

TO avoid repetition at the commencement of each of 
the Chapters which compose this Part of our subject, 
we must here refer to an account of the <-^ progress a7id 
extent of Ancient Geography" given in the foregoing 
Introduction; from which, the pupil will derive as clear 
a conception as we can impart, jelative to the bounds of 
ancient knowledge in regard to either of these grand 
divisions of the Earth. Any farther particulars that can 
be given in regard to these limits, will occur in the de- 
tails of the series of Sections proper to these Chapters. 

We would recommend also, to the pupil, to keep up 
a continual comparison between the accounts given, in 
the Chapters and Sections, of the inhabitants of countries 
of which they treat, and that given of the origin and 
migration of ancient nations in the Introduction; for in 
order to avoid repetition, when that abstract from Pink- 
erton's dissertation is sufficiently full, we shall rely upon 



CHAP. I. 



HIBERNIA. 



its being attended to without further notice. In making 
this comparison, if the student should occasionally ob- 
serve, not only a want of correspondence, but also a ma- 
terial contrariety between the Introduction and the se- 
quel; the explanation is this, — That on many of these 
topics, particularly in regard to the inhabitants of remote 
regions, and those of high antiquity who occupied any 
■ ountry, the ancient authors differed exceedingly from 
each other; wherefore -vye should not expect their inter- 
preters either to reconcile them or consent with each other. 
Jience it will be admitted that consistency is not so de- 
sirable here, as it is that we give the opinion of the best 
authors; so that the tyro, when he becomes profound, may 
->ee that we have not deluded iiim with ideas of certain- 
ty, on subjects which he must ultimately regard as mea- 
surably hypothetical. But withal, we should do justice 
to the early writers who differ in their notices, at least 
of the original settlements of any country, — by remark- 
ing, that at some period there may have existed equally 
solid data for the allusions of each, as it is a palpable 
impossibility precisely tQ designate, for a succession of 
periods, the locality of an ever wandering people, such 
as the original settlers or Nomades of every country. 



SECTION FIRST. 



HIBERNIA VEL lERNE, 
IRELAND. 



The name of this great island is variously read. That 
of Ierne, in some authors of antiquity, has a great affini- 
ty to the name of Erin, which it bears among the people 



CHAP. I. 



who inhabit it, compounded of /a?-, west, and In, an 
island, and fiom which is fornied its present denomina- 
tion of Ireland. Caesar is the first author who mentions 
Ireland under the name of Hibernia: and therein he 
might either have latinized the //' Y-verdhon of the south- 
ern Britons; or, what is more probable, given it a name 
that suited his own ideas of its air and climate. In times 
just preceding the fall of the western empire, we find 
this island mentioned under the name of Scotia; whence 
its inhabitants, under the name of Scoti, issued to invade 
the north of Britain, 

The Romans never having carried their arms into 
Ireland, had no other knowledge of it, than what com- 
merce furnished between two lands in sight of each 
other. It would be difficult, not to say inept, to recount 
the detail which the geography of Ptolemy furnishes of 
Hibernia. To what we have said of the origin of the 
Irish people, in the Introduction, we will only add here 
that some writers imputed much of her early population 
to Iberia or Spain. 



SECTION SECOND. 

ALBION VEL BRITANNIA, 
GREAT BRITAIN. 

The Phoenician colony of Gades, now Cadiz, had a 
very early commercial acquaintance with Britain, as 
well as Avith Gaul, which their policy kept secret. It was 
unknown to the Romans till it was invaded by Julius 
Csesar during his Gallic wars before Christ 55, It was 



50 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



ascertained to be an island by Agricola, who sailed 
around it. 

BRIfANNIA RQMAVTA. 

England, Wales., and fiart of Scotland. 
When Caesar passed into Britain, he advanced only 
to the banks of the Tharnes, which merely served, as it 
were, to show him the country. Augustus, little attach- 
ed to extending the limits of the empire, neglected the 
conquest of it: and it was not seriously invaded till the 
reign of Claudius, when the part nearest to Gaul, be- 
tween the east and souths was subjected. Under the 
reign of Domitian, the Roman arms commanded by 
Agricola penetrated even to Caledonia; that is to say, 
into the centre of Scotland, The difficulty of maintain- 
ing this distant frontier against the assaults of the un- 
conquered people, determined Adrian to contract the 
limits of the Roman province in Britain, and separate it 
from the barbarous country by a rampart of eighty miles 
in length, from the bottom of the gulf now called Sol" 
way Frith, to Tinmouth, which is the entrance of a river 
on the east side of the island. Severus carried these 
limits farther, in constructing another rampart, of thir- 
ty-two miles, in the narrowest part of the island between 
Glota, or the river Clyde, and- the bottoin of Bobotria^ or 
the gulf near which the city of Edinburgh staiias. 

The multiplication of provinces, which prevailed 
throughout the Roman empire, furnished in this island, 
a Britannia Pritna, and Seainda; a Flavia Cxsuriensia, a 
Maxima Casa?'iensis, and a ValeMia. After holding this 
part of the British isle for more than 400 years, being 
no longer able to defend so distant a province, the Ro- 
mans relinquished it to the old inhabitants; who, calling 



CHAP. 1. EUROPE. 



in the Saxo7is from Germany to assist in repelling the 
Ficts and Scots, fell a prey with these, to the sinister 
ally, except those who retired to Wales. 

. CALEDONIA VEL BRIfANNIA BARBARA. 

The north of Scotlmici. 

That part of this island beyond the Clyde and Forth, 
■which was not comprised within the limits of the Ro- 
man empire, has been distinguished by the title of Bri- 
tannia Barbai-a; whereas from the natives it derived the 
denomination of Caledonia, The name of Calcdonii ap- 
pears to have comprehended many particular people who 
occupied, under divers denominations, the northern 
parts of Scotland. Nor are the Caledonians to be distin- 
guished from the Picti, whose name is not found em- 
ployed till a succeeding age; but which, by a term bor- 
rowed from the Roman language, expresses a custom 
established among this savage people, of painting their 
skin with party-coloured figures. Another nation, the 
Scoti, who migrated from Hibernia^ attacked the Picts 
before Britain was lost to the Romans, penetrated to the 
utmost part of the Roman dominion towards tlie north, 
and were in the sequel sufficiently powerful to gain, by 
conquest, from the Saxons of the English heptarchy, the 
kingdom of the Nordan-humbers, which was bounded on 
the north by the gulf of Edinburgh, and the rampart of 
Severus. And the conquests of this people have extend- 
ed their name to the northern end of the island; although 
the Scots, properly so called, are distinguished as occu- 
pying the western shore, called High-land, because it is 
more mountainous than that towards the east. 

A difference of complexion observed among the in- 
habitants of Britain, indicated a difference of origin. It 



52 EUROPE. CHAP. 



is indisputable that numerous tribes, crossing over from 
Gaul, established themselves in the southern parts of it» 
A great analogy in the language, identity of religion, 
and a conformity of manners, though less civilized in 
Britain than in Gaul, are an unequivocal testimony of 
affinity between the people. But the reddish hair and 
stature of the Caledonians persuaded Tacitus that these 
were originally from Germany; while the swarthy tint 
and curled locks of the Silures, caused them to be 
deemed of Iberian origin. — We have already been some- 
what minute upon the ancient inhabitants of Britain in 
the preceding pages.' 



SECTION THIRD. 

ORCADES \EL EBUDES INSUL-E, 
THE ORKNEYS OR WESTERN ISLES. 

At the extremity of Caledonia are the Orcades. As 
there is mention of these islands before a Roman fleet 
circumnavigated Britain, when Agricola commanded 
there, what Tacitus reports of their being then disco- 
vered and conquered, must only be understood with re- 
spect to the last of these terms. The ancients were not 
entirely ignorant of the islands of the western shores of 
Scotland, which they called Ebudes, and which are now 
named, by reason of their situation, the Western Isles. j 
But they are mentioned in a manner too desultory and 
indistinct to authorise a particular detail of them here. 



EUROPE. 53 



SCANDINAVIA. 



SECTION FOURTH. 

SCANDINAVIA, SCANZA, VEL BALTIA, 

TARTS OF, NORWAY, SWEDEN, DENMARK, ScC. 

Scandinavia is also named by abbreviation Scandia, 
and in the writers of a succeeding age we read Scan- 
ziA. Antiquity had yet another name for it, which is 
Bai^tia, remarkable for its affinity with the Baltic Sea, 
which borders Scandinavia. 

The ancients had a very imperfect knowledge of 
Scandinavia; believing it to be totally encompassed 
by the sea, and even composed of many islands. The 
manner in which these islands of the name of Scandy 
are represented in the chart prepared by Ptolemy has 
no relation to any real state of the coimtry. The south- 
ern extremity however, and of which the Danish isles 
of Zealand, Funen, &c. make the appendages, recall in 
the name of Skany, or Scane, the memory of its ancient 
denomination. Tacitus, without naming Scandinavia, 
speaking of this country as being environed by the ocean, 
which forms spacious gulfs, embracing islands of great 
extent, ascribes it to Suevia, and places two nations 
therein. What he reports of the Suio7ies, in having a 
marine, appears remarkable, when we recollect that the 
ancient laws concerning navigation had their origin in 
Wisby in the isle of Gothland. The country to which 
Tacitus conducts us retains the name of Sueonia, in the 
writers of the middle age, speaking precisely of Swe- 
den. The other nation, the Sitones, whose sovereignty 
was in the hands of a woman, may have been Norway. 
F 



54 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

SCANDINAVIA. SECT. IV, 

According to Pliny, the only part of Scandinavi.\ 
which was known, was occupied by the Hilleviones, a 
numerous nation. Among the divers names of coun- 
tries and people reported by Jornandes we find Halliui 
and that which is contiguous to the particular province 
of Skane is still called Halland. Although the proper 
name of a principal country of ancient Scandinavia 
be Gothland, and, according to the historians of the 
Goths, Scanzia insula was the cradle of that illustrious 
nation, we must say that the account is not justified by 
the authority of any of the Roman writers. But we may 
conjecture that a people named Guta by Ptolemy, have 
some relation to them; remarking withal in Jornandes, 
that a nation distinguished as very brave and addicted to 
war were called Gauti-Goth. 

According to the ancient error which divided the con- 
tinent of Scandinavia into many islands, there arc 
found in Pliny the names of Bergos and JVerigos, as 
proper to two of these islands; the former being the 
place of embarcation for T/iule, the present Shetland 
Isles, It is evident, that the first under consideration is 
Bergen, one of the principal towns in Norway, having 
a port much frequented, and the name which succeeded 
being attributed to the largest island, is applicable to 
the country itself, of which the proper and local deno- 
mination is Norge instead of Norway. 

But there is recognised, in this country, another Thule 
described by Procopius, the name of which is preserved [ 
in the canton Telemark; for it is certain that this author 
leads us to Scandinavia when he comprist sti.e people 
called ScritO'Finni in Thule. These Fins were so called 
according to Paulus Diitconus, from the lightness and 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 



SECT. V. SARMATIA. 



vivacity of their course over the snows and ice, which 
they pursued on wooden skates. The promontory be- 
tween the gulfs of Bothnia and Finland, offering the 
appearance of a great island, was called Finningia. 
Tacitus describes the Finni or Fenni, as very miserable; 
and that of tiie Finns of Thule is little better in Proco- 
pius. — We have already enlarged upon many errors 
respecting the knowledi:;e the ancients possessed of 
these northein regions, in the introduction, which need 
not be reneated here. 



SECTION FIFTH, 

SARMATIA EUROP^A ET ASIATICA,* 

EUROPEAN AND ASIATIC RUSSIA, 8cC. 

The Vistula is regarded as the separation between 
Sarmatia and ancient Germany; and the Tanais makes 
the division between the European d^nA Miadc Sa'-matia, 
towards the lower part of its course, tending to the 
Palus Mxotis. Thence, and from the Cimmerian Bos' 
phorus, the Asiatic fiart^ boonded on the south by the 
Fuxine and mount Caucasus.^ extends as far as the Cas' 
fiian sea,, the northern shores of which it covers; to say 
nothing of the unknown extent of it to the north-east. 

Atan earlierperiod, than thatof the above division, when 
this track was first settled by the Scythians and Sarma- 
TIANS, that part of it here called Asiatic Sarmatia would 



* To preserve Sarmatia entire we have ticspassed upon 
the boundaries of Asia. 



56 EUROPE. CHAP. I, 

SARMATIA. SECT. V. 

attach itself to Eastern Scylhia^ according to Mr. Pink- 
erton; as was that part of ^wro/zea?! Sarmatia now called 
Little Tartary, the true Parential or Jncient Scythia. 
About the same time also, that part here distinguished 
SiS^Ge?;ma?io-S'ar?na(ia would fall in the limits of Gei-- 
mania; circumscribing the real Sarmatia within a 
much smaller north-eastern limit, till her numerous 
tribes penetrated farther into Europe, and, intermixing 
with the Scythians who had preceded them, with what 
degree of justice we say not, changed the name of the 
country. 

To give a general idea of this great nation, and to dis- 
tinguish what is Germanic on one side, from what is 
Sarmatic on the other, it must be observed, that where- 
ver a Sclavonian dialect is spoken, the natives are Sar- 
matians. And if we find a language fundamentally the 
same established in countries distant from ancient Sar- 
matia, the reason is, that swarms from the same hive 
settled in divers parts of Germany, as far as the Elbe; 
and south of the Danube, as far as the Adriatic sea. 

We now proceed to an indication of some of the prin- 
cipal among the numerous nations which were found 
scattered over the immense expanse of Sarmatia. 
The Fenedi extended along the shores of the iJaltic, to 
a considerable distance in the interior country; and if 
their name be remarked as subsisting in that of Wen- 
den, in a district of Livonia, it is only in a partial man- 
ner, and holding out but a small proportion to the ex- 
tent which the Fenedi occupied. Passing the Vistula, 
the Fenedi took possession of the lands between that 
river and the Elbe, that had been evacuated about the 
close of the fourth century by the Fandali, whose name 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 57 

SECT. V. SARMATIA. 

is seen sometimes erroneously confounded with that of 
the' Venedi. The country that the Vencdi occupied in 
the tenth century was that of the JPruzzi, whose name 
present use has changed into Borussi. — It is on this 
shore that the sea casts up amber, called by the natives 
of the country Glass or Glest by the Romans Succinum, 
by the Greeks Electron: and the islands called Electri- 
des can only be the long and narrow sands that separate 
the sea from the gulfs named Frisch-haf and Curisch- 
liaf. According to Tacitus, amber was gathered by the 
.Eafiai; and notwithstanding that Ptolemy takes no no- 
tice of them, the name is preserved beyond the limits 
of Prussia, in Estonia, which makes a part of Livonia; 
and there is no doubt that the name of East-land, in the 
writers of the middle ages, comes from its position res- 
pecting the Baltic sea. — According to Ptolemy, the great 
nations of Sarmatia besides the Venedi, with whom 
he begins his description, are the Peucinii^ud. Bastarne, 
who inhabited above Dacia, and the lazyges and Roxo- 
lani, established on the Palus Mseotis. He adds, in the 
interior country, the Hamaxo-bii, or dwellers in wag- 
ons; and Tacitus distinguishes the Venedi, Fcuci?n, 
and Bastarnte, from those, as having fixed abodes. He 
-also speaks of ihePeucini and Basiarn<e as the sanse na- 
tion; so that the x\2Ln\eo^ Peucini could only distinguish 
the part of this nation which was settled in the vicinity 
of the isle of Pence., between the arms which form the 
mouths of the Danube, and whose modern name Piczinaf' 
preserves an evident analogy to that.ofthe Peucini. — 
The lazyges appear to have been a nation widely ex- 
tended; a part of them being named Avith the Tyri-geta, 
F 2 



S8 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

SARMA-TIA. SECT. V. 

established on the Tyras or Dniester. Their position 
on the Palus is given to the Scythians by Herodotus; 
and the Roxolani are thought to have existed a little be- 
yond these, as we see their name associated with those 
of the Bastamx and Z)aa in the treaty which the empe- 
ror Hadrian made with the king of the latter. There 
is moreover reason to believe that the name Roxolani is 
that of the Russians; who having occupied, in the mid- 
dle of Poland, the lands which appear to have been the 
residence of tho- -Bastarna, have left their name to one 
of the principal provinces of this kingdom. — There 
must be added to these people the Budini and Geloni^ 
whom Herodotus mentions in reciting the expedition of 
Darius son of Hystaspes against the Scythians. These 
two nations appear to have maintained a firm alliance, 
though of different races: the former being purely Sar- 
matic, and addicted to a pastoral life; while the latter 
were sprung from establishments which the Greeks had 
formed on the Euxine, and who had communicated to 
their neighbours the theology, and part of the language, 
of Greece. A city of the Budini^ built of wood, and 
nan^ed Gelomis, which Darius destioyed by fire, must 
have been a work of the Gcloni. By a detail which He- 
rodotus furnishes of ihe canton of the Budini, but which 
the nature of our pl^n does not permit us to enter upon, 
we think we distinguish this canton on the right of the 
Borysthenes, below Kiow. But it appears, by other dis- 
tricts of this country, that this people had ascended 
higher; and that the Geloni, having been scattered from 
their primitive dvvelhngs, had become more Sarmatic 
than they were in the time that Herodotus speaks of: 
for they are represented as having colours stained upon 



f -HAP. I. EUROPE. 59 

SECT. V, SARMATIA. 

their skin, as reported of the AgathyrsU who appear in 
a much more southern situation in Herodotus than in 
Ptolemy. — The Sarmatians are also described to have 
among ihem Andro/ihagi, or eaters of human flesh; and 
Mclan-c/ilceni, or those clothed in black. — But the nation 
designtited as royal in the name of Basilii, were Scy- 
thians, according to Herodotus, and seated on the Palus 
at the entrance of the Tauric Chersonese. Strabo joins 
the Basilii with the lazyges, named with the Tyrigetes, 
In Ptolemy, the nation distinguished by this name is far 
distant in Asiatic Sarmatia; and to give it a place, 
that canton of Russia, where the ancient princes of Rus- 
sia were established, as Wolodimer, would correspond 
with it better than any other. The Perierbidi, which 
according to the same author formed a great nation in 
the same Sarmatia, would refer to what has been long 
distinguished by the name of Welika Perma, or Great 
Permski. — The Greeks had formed some establish- 
ments in Little Scythia^ and a Milesian colony, to which 
they had given the name of Olbia, or the Happy, was situ- 
ated a little above the mouth of the Borysthenes, at 
the point where it receives the Hypanis. Here the 
Greeks had ceded a small state to Mithridates, king 
of Pontus, whose wars with the Romans have render- 
ed him so famous: and this prince reduced to obedi- 
ence the Scythians, who had become masters of the 
greatest part of the Chersonese. After him the Bos- 
phorus had a race of kings, who recognised the supe- 
riority of the Roman empire. The name of Gothia 
also is found applied to this country, because the Goths 
maintained it for some time during the Lower En>- 
pire. , - . 



60 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



GERMANIA. 



SECTION SIXTH. 

GERMANIA, 

PARTS OF DENMARK, UNITED PROVINCES, POLAND) 

PRUSSIA, AND GERMANY. 

We shall merely mention here four of the five 
grand divisions of Germania, according to Pliny, such 
as Ingavones^ Vindili, Hermiones, and Istarvones; the^J(/iy 
which he terms Peukini-Bastarnce^ forming the Gcrmu' 
no-Sarmatia gf later geographers, has been seen in the 
last section to which it properly belongs. 

Separated from Gaul by the Rhine.^ Germania' ex- 
tended eastward to the Vistula^ which may serve it for 
a limit on the side of Sarmatia; while the shore of the 
sea towards the north, and the course of the Danube, on 
the south, are elsewhere its boundaries! That which we 
now see comprised in Germany between the Danube 
and the Alps, did not belong to it. — The name of Gcr- 
mani did not belong to tliis nation from immemoiial 
antiquity. There was a time when the CtUs prevailed 
beyond the Rhine, as establishments formed in Ger- 
many by Cdiic nations sufficiently evince. But when 
detachments of Germanic people invaded this country, 
Tacitus informs us that these strangers, superior in 
Hrms, were called Germani; and we find that, in the 
Tuetonic, or Germanic language, Ger-man signifies a 
warrior. The name of Alemagne., which the French ex- 
tended to Germany, comes from a particular people, of ; 
whom the first mention is made at the beginning of the 
third century, under the reign of Caracalla. This name 
of Ale-mauy or All-man, signifies properly a multitude of 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 61 

SECT. VI. GERMANIA. 

men; and the Alemanni appear to have been established 
in the country now called Swabia, in descending the 
Rhine to the confluence of the Maine. This niition, hav- 
ing detached itself from the Francic league^ formed in 
the same age by the nations of the Lower Rhine, had 
arrived to the highest degree of power. 

Roman ships had navigated the Baltic sea, and her 
arms h?d penetrated to the nearest circuit of the Elbe, 
near Magdeburg, in which quarter the trophies of 
l3rusus were erected; all of which served to restrain the 
savage inhabitants, but she never conquered them. 
The interior of this country remained unexplored till 
the age of Charlemagne; and the northern parts, for 
some centuries after that period. 

In describing the different people, it will be found, 
agreeably to geographic order, to begin in the vicinity of 
the Rhine, and, ascending that river to the Danube, to 
penetrate thence through the bosom of the continent to 
the shores of the Balsic sea. Hence the FHsii, or Pri- 
sons, separated from Gaul and the territory of the Bata- 
vi by that arm of the Rhine which preserves its name, 
appear the first — The next were the Chauciy divided, as 
we may say of the Prisons, into Majores and Minores; 
these inhabiting the hither side of the Weser, those oc- 
cupying the country between that river and the Elbe. 
This was one of the most illustrious nations of Germa- 
ny, according to Tacitus, and distinguished by the love 
of justice. But Pliny represents as very miserable the 
life of those who inhabited a shore exposed to inunda- 
tions of the sea. — Between the Rhine and the Ems, 
above the prisons, were the Bructeri; and although 
Tacitus speaks of them as a nation destroyed by the ha- 



62 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GERMA.NIA. SECT. VI. 

tred of their neighbours, we find them distinguishing 
themselves among the first of the Francic league. We 
read lliat a part of the country of the Bructeri was oc- 
cupied by the Chama-vi scnA \\\& Angrivarii. The first, 
having previously inhabited the banks of the Rhine, had 
been successively replaced by the Tubantes and the 
Usipii; and it is believed that the second, established on 
the Weser in the vicinity of the C/ierusci, have given 
the name to Angaria or Angria, to the dominion of the fa- 
mous Saxon Witikind, who co^t Charlemagne so much 
trouble to reduce to obedience. And by the mention 
made of the Marsi^ it is known that they also belonged 
to this canton. — The Cherusci were extended on botli 
sides of the Weser above the Cauci; where, under the 
conduct of Arminius, they acquired an immortal name 
by the utter annihilation of three Roman legions, com- 
manded by Varus. The Chermci are afterwards describ- 
ed as a degenerate people, appearing subjected to a 
neighbouring power, who it is thought were the Caucij 
as the dependencies of these, in the time of Tacitus, ex- 
tended to the territory of the Catti. The victories ol 
Germanicus had caused the ruin of the Chej-usciy and in- 
volved a contiguous nation,~^named the Fosi, in their ca- 
lamity. — The Chasuarii merit notice, if they be the same 
people with the Aeiuarii, in the league of tlie Francs.— 
We must again approach the Rhine, and remark th< 
Sicambri, who inhabit the south side of the course of the 
Lippe. Pressed by the Catti, powerful neighbours, whom 
Caesar calls Suevi, they were, together with the Ubii, re- 
ceived iiito Gaul, on the left bank of the Rhine, under 
Augustus; and there is reason to believe that the people 
who occupied this position under the name of Gugerni, 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 63 

SECT. VI. GEEMANIA. 

were part of the Sicambri. It was in favour of the Ubii 
that Caesar crossed the Rhine, at the extremity of the 
territory of Treves, ravaged that of the Sicambri^, and 
caused the Catti to decamp. — The Tencteri inhabited 
the country contiguous to that which the Sicavibri had 
possessed, and also above it.— A nation superior in pow- 
er to any of these were the Catti, whom Csesar, as just 
observed, calls Suevi. They occupied Hesse to the Sala 
in Thuringia, and Weteravia to the Maine. Among 
oiher circumstances which enhanced the merit of this 
people, was that of their skill in the military art; which, 
according to Tacitus, the Catti superadded to the quali- 
ty of bravery common to the Germanic nations. The 
Mattiaci made part of the great Cattian nation, from 
whom were detached the Butavi, establishexl in the ex- 
tremity of Gaul. A firm alliance united the Mattiaci to 
the Roman empire. It is remarked even, that a part of 
their territory contiguous to the Rhine and the Maine, 
was covered and separated from the exterior country by 
a vallum, or retrenchment, whereof evident vestiges are 
still subsisting: and the mount named Taimus, whose 
ridge prevails from the bank of the Rhine to above 
Fi-ankfort, had a post fortified by Drusus. — Many have 
thought that the Alemanni issued from the Decumatie 
people. But if we admit that tl>e Alemanni were com- 
posed of divers people, as may be ftiirly inferred from 
the name that distinguishes them, yet it is extremely 
probable that they were more Germans and Suevians 
than Gauls. For whence should come the present name 
of Suabia peculiar to this circle of Germany, although 
far distant from the ancient and primitive Suevi; whose 
name, in its severer and more appropriate sense, was 



64 ' EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GERMANIA. SECT. VI. 

applicable to the Cattian nations beyond the Maine ? 
However this be, we must remark, that the Roman do- 
minion extended over the country which has taken the 
name of Suabia; which extent was even defined in its 
limits, and defended by a retrenchment, under the reign 
of Probus, embracing about sixty leagues of the course 
of the Danube from its sources. And this line is thought 
to have been garrisoned till about the reigns of Dioclc- 
sian and Maximian — The Hermunduri, a potent nation, 
and attached to the Roman name, stretched from the 
shore of the same river far into the interior country, 
disputing with the Catti the possession of the Sala, and 
the salt which the waters of this river furnish to the 
town of Halle. They were only separated by the Elbe 
from another great nation, of whom we shall speak 
hereafter. — Lower down on the same bank of the Danube 
the JVarisci succeed to the Hermunduri, and seem to have 
been covered by Boiohemumov Bohemia. — In the name of 
this country, that of the more ancient people who occu- 
pied it is followed by a term in the German language 
which signifies habitation or dwelling; and this name 
has continued to the same country in that of Bohemia 
although the Boii had given place to the Marcomani, 
and these to a Sclavonic or Sarmatian people, who have 
long possessed it^ It appears by Caesar, that the Boii 
were associated with the Helvetic nation; and the Hel- 
vetians^ according to Tacitus, had advanced as far as the 
Maine. The Marcomani, or Marcomanni, and their liing 
Maroboduus, desirous of escaping from the Roman 
yoke, withdrew from the Rhine and Maine under Au- 
gustus, and wrested from the Boii the country which 
had borne their name; which name the same people, 



•I 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 65 

SECT. VI. GERMANIA. 

abandoning these their native seats, have carried with 
them into that now called Boiaria, Bay aria, or Bavaria. 
—The Quadit the most remote of the Germanic nations 
on the Danube, between the Marcomani and the Sarma- 
tian people called Jaztjges, and who make a figure in 
many passages of history, but particularly under the 
reign of Marcus Aurelius, occupied what is now called 
Moravia. Under Tiberius, bands of Germans, who had 
followed princes driven from their states, were settled 
on the Danube, between the rivers Marus and Causus^ 
or the Morava and the Vag; of which the former is the 
boundary between the modern kingdom of Hungary and 
the marquisate of Moravia. The establishment then 
made by a king of the Quadi, named Vannius, extended 
the limits of this nation to the river Granua, or Gran. 

The internal part of this continent may be considered 
under the general name of Suevia; whence many Ger- 
manic nations have borrowed the denomination under 
which they appear. Suevia was divided among a num- 
ber of distinct people. 'The Semnones, who were re- 
puted the noblest and most ancient of the Suevian na- 
tions, extended from the Elbe beyond the Oder. — Be- 
hind the Marcomani and Quadi, as Tacitus expresses 
liimseif, were the Marsigni, Got/ioni, Osi, and Bunij an, 
arrangement which places these people towards the 
Oder, above the Semnones. — The Lygii are mentioned 
as a po\^erful nation, uniting under this name several 
people, whose dwellings, bordering on the Sarmatians, 
appear to have been on the JVarta and the Fistula Ta- 
citus, naming the Langobardi after the Semnones, autho- 
rizes the opinion that they were established on thes 
G 



66 EUROPE. CHAP. 1 

GERMANIA. SECT. VI. 

Sprhe, which communicates with the Elbe. It is glo- 
rious to this people, says that historian, to maintain their 
independence amidst more powerful and hostile neigh- 
bours. Seeing the Langobardi or Lombards comprised 
in Suevia, can it be supposed that they who entered Ita- 
ly under that name before the end of the sixth century 
were originally from a country separated from Germa- 
ny by the Baltic Sea, according to the report of Paulus 
Diaconus, who nevertheless was a Lombard by nation? 
Their name (which, according to this historian, signi- 
fies longbeard) might have been employed in different 
regions. — Beyond the Lygii were the Gochoncs, whose 
residence is thought to have been near the sea. — The 
name of the Rugii subsists in that of Rugenwald, which 
belongs to a maritime city of the farther Pomerania, as 
an island adjacent to the hither part of the same coun- 
try is called Rugen.— The Varini are supposed to have 
been in Mecklenburg; and all those approaching that 
shore appear to be comprised under the name of Vindili^ 
the same that the Vandals have made famous.— -To 
these may be added the Burgundiones^ whose name iS;. 
retained in that of Bourgogne, a province of Franc© 
•which fell to their share. — The entrance of the Cim- 
brian Chersonese, or that which corresponds with mo-! 
dern Holsiein, contained two nations highly illusiriouii 
in their progress; on one side the Angli, on the other 
the Saxonea. These last were bounded in their primi«." 
tive state by the issue of the Elbe; although now the 
name of Saxony, under which Westphalia is comprised, 
extends from the Rhine to the Oder. The great emi- 
gration of the Cimbri had reduced the remains of this 
nation, who continued in their ancient seats many age's 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 67 

SECT. VII. GALLIA. 

after, to an inconsiderable tribe; but the remembrance 
of the former glory of this nation rendered it still re- 
spectable. 



SECTION SEVENTH. 

GALLIA, 

FRANCE AND SWITZERLAND, WITH PARTS OF GER- 
MANY, AND THE NETHERLANDS. 

Gaul, bounded by the sea from the north to the west, 
was limited on the eastern side only by the Rhine in the 
whole extent of its course. The chain of the Mfis suc- 
ceeded thence to the Mediterranean; where the coast 
oF this sea, and the Pyrenees, terminated the southern 
part) Thus we may remark that France does not oc- 
cupy the whole extent of ancient Gaul, seeing the ex- 
cess of the latter on the side of the Rhine and Aljis. 

Three great nations, the Celta, Beiga, and Aquitani^ 
distinguished by language as by customs, divided the 
whole extent of Gaxjl; but in a manner very unequal. 
The Celts occupied more than half of it, from the Seine 
and the Maine to the Garonne, extending eastward to 
the Rhine, towards the upper part of its course, and in 
the south to the Mediterranean, They were also more 
Gallic than the others: for the Belg3e, at the northern 
extremity, and bordering on the Lower Rhine, were 
mingled with Germanic nations; and the Aquitani, en- 
closed between the Garonne and the Pyrenees, had 
much affinily with the Iberian or Spanish nations of the 
neighbouring mountains.- — The reader must also be in- 
formed that the name of Celtee^ and of Celtica, extended 



68 EUROPE, CHAP. I. 



SECT. VII. 



to Gaul in general, being that given by ihe natives to 
themselves. It is from the Romans that we learn to call 
them Gilli.) and their country Gallia. 

The Roman policy of hc>ving allies beyond the limits 
of their provinces, and the pretext of succouring the city 
of Marseilles, and the Mduan people, caused the Roman 
armies o enter Gaul an hundred and twenty years before 
the Christian sera. This first attempt put Rome in possess- 
ion of a province, which bordering the left bank of the 
RhoneXjQ the sea, extended itself on the other side of the 
mountain of Cevennen^ and thence along the sea to the 
Pyrenees. It was at first distinguished by the generic name 
of Provincial being only surnamed Braccala, from a gar- 
ment worn by the natives, which covered theirthighs: at 
the same time the name of Cotnata was given to Celttci 
Gaul, because Ihe people inhabiting it wore long hairJ 
What remained of Gaul, and \vhich was by mOch the 
greatest part, was a conquest reserved for Csesar, more 
than sixty years after the precedent. The limits of the 
THREE NATIONS were thefi such as we have reported. — It 
-would be as useless as tiresome to the reader to recount 
all the tribes and clans, into which these semi-barbarous 
nations distributed themselves. Many of them were the 
same that we have mentioned in the last section. 

Augustus holding Gaul in the 27th year before 
the Christian sera, made a new division of it, in which 
he showed more attention to equctiity in the extent of 
provinces, than to any distinction of the several people 
that inhabited them. Thus the nation of Jquitani, Avho 
Avere before limited to the Garonne, were made to com- 
municate tlieir name to a province vvhicii encroached 
upon the Celiac, as far as the mouth of the Loire; and 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 69 

SECT. VII. GAULLIA. 

that which the Celtx had, contiguous to the Rhine, was 
taken into the limits of a province called Belgica, Lug- 
du7ium, a colony founded after the death of Julius, and 
before the Triumvirate, gave the name of Lugdunensis, 
or the Lionois, to what remained of Celtic Gaul; whilst 
the Roman firovince took that of JVarbonensis, or Narbo- 
nois. But each of these provinces in the succession of 
time formed many others, insomuch that in about 400 
years their number augmented to seventeen. 

Tlie government of the church in Gaul having con- 
formed itself to that of the stale, the ecclesiastical pro- 
vinces, if we except those formed by the elevation of a 
few cities to the dignity of metropolitan sees, correspond 
with this division of civil provinces under the Lower 
J:lmpire. This conformity extends even to the particular 
cantons of which each province was composed, the an- 
cient civitatest or conmiunities, corresponding for the 
most part with the present dioceses. Places which are 
given under the name of Fines, terminations, contribute 
to show a correspondence of limits. — The reader must, 
moreover be apprised, that the term communities, civi- 
tales, as used here, does not include the idea originally 
signified by that of civitas; but is specially employed to 
denote the districts or territories of the several distinct 
people, who were ve^'y numerous in the extent of Gaul. 
—From this connexion between its ancient and modern 
state, we may infer that this great province has suffered 
less alteration in its constitution by the revolutions which 
have followed the fall of the Roman empire, than othet 
parts of the same. 

G2 



70 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GALLIA. SECT. VII. 

NASBONENSIS GALLJA~—NARBONQIS^ 

Rousillon, Languedoc, Daufihine; part of Burgundy; 

Provence^ and Savoy. 
It seems reasonable to begin with that province which 
was first formed in Gaul, and which being fashioned 
more particularly to the manners of the reigning people, 
still preserves, in the vulgar dialect, a greater resem- 
blance to the Roman language than the provinces de- 
tached towards the north, where this language might 
have been less familiar, or less pure in its use. In the 
multiplication of the number of provinces, we distinguish 
five under this article, entitled jYarbonensis. — We see, 
at the commencement of the fourth century, the pro- 
vince, under the name of r«>n«enez*, separated from the 
Narbonois, and this again divided into two provinces, 
distinguished \n\.o Jirst and second, by the name of the 
primitive. — The people cantoned in the Alps, the great- 
est part of whom weie not subjected to the yoke till 
after the first establishment of the Roman dominion in 
Gaul, composed two provinces; one under the name of 
Alpes Maritime; because they touched the sea; the other 
more remote upon the declivity of the Greek and Pen- 
nine Alps, and hence it was called jil/tes Graia et Pen- 
ninx. — The province distinguished by the name of ^'br- 
bonensis Prima, and of which the extent accords, gener- 
ally speaking, with that now named Languedoc, was for 
the most part occupied by two considerable people; the 
Voice Arecomacit towards the Rhone; and the Volcx 
Tectosages, towards the Garonne. Northward of the 
^irecomaci were the Helvii, covered by the mountainous 
bank of the Rhone, in the territory which now composes 
the diocese of Viviers.— There is no mention of the 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. n 

SECT. VII. GALLIA. 

Xarbonensis before the fourth century was consider- 
ably advanced. ^qn<e Sextiae or Aix, its metropolis, 
owed its foundation to Sextius Calvinus; who, in the 
iirst expeditions of the Roimans in Gaul, reduced tl^e 
Saiyesyov Saluvii,a powerful nation, who extended from 
the Rhone along the southern bank of the Durance, 
almost to the Alps; and with whom the Massilians had 
long to contend.— -The province of ^IJiea Maritima, in- 
closed between the precedent and a chain of the -^Ips, 
reached to the sea, at the entrance of the Var, and at 
the foot of the Alps called Maritima; which beyond 
this river bore a trophy erected to Augustus, for having 
subjected the people of the Alps between the two seas 
which embrace Italy: for, although the Var may be 
cited as separating Gaul from Italy, the summit of the 
mountains whence the waters flow on each side properly 
constitutes their natural limits. 

LUGDUNENSIS GALLIA LEONQIS, 

J^ormandy^ Part of the Isle of France, tvith Orleannois, 
Lyonnois, part of Burgundy, JVivernois, part of Cham- 
pagne., Bretagne, Touraine, Anjou, and Maine, 
The name of Lugdunensis, was applied to a long 
band of country making the middle of Gaul, from Lug' 
dunum, or Lions, /(jpon the Rhone, to the Western 
Ocean, and limited on one side by Aquitaine, and on 
the other by Betgica. In the division which the FOtjR 
primitive provinces experienced, the Lionois was at 
first parted into two, first and second, or Lugdunensis 
Prima and Lugdunensis' Secunda; and this division did 
not suffer another until the fourth century had elapsed; 
when, m place of two Lionoises, we find yb«r, by a sub- 
sequent dismemberment of each of the former two.— 



EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



SECT. VII. 



It must be observed, that a people called Lingones, now 
l/angres, occupied Belgica before it made a part of the 
lirst Lionois, or Lugdunensis Prima', which Avithout this 
accession would have been too much diminished by the 
dismemberment of a new province, which the name, of 
fourth Lionois, or Lugdunensis Quarta, indicates to have 
been last formed. And because it was immediately con- 
tiguous to that from which it had been detached, to se- 
parate entirely the Jirst Lionois from the second and 
thirds we have mentioned it in connexion with \ht Jirst. — 
The second Lionois, or Lugdunensis Secunda, after the 
third had been detached from it, was nearly comprised 
in the present limits of Normandy. — The third Lionois, 
or Lugdunensis Terlia^ corresponded with Bretagne, 
Touraine, Anjou, and Maine. 

A^UIfANIA GALLIA— 'ASIUIVAINE, 

Berry., ./iuvergne, U?}iousi7i, Poitou, Sainlonge, Guienne., 
Gascone^ A'avarre, and Beam. 
AquiTANiA, which in the division of Gaul by Augus- 
tus was but one region, afterwards formed three provin- 
ces; the two Aquitaines, and Novempopulane. — The ca- 
pital of the Bituriges, which, after having borne the name 
Avaricum., took that of the people, from wliich the pre- 
sent name of Bourges is derived, whs the metropolis of 
the first Aquitaine, or Aquitania Prima, This nation 
was the most considerable of Gaul, and appears to have 
been governed by a king when the multitude of Gauls 
passed the Rhine and the Alps, to establish themselves 
in Germany and Italy, about six hundred years before 
the Christian sera. We have two Biiurigian people; the 
principal, which was that of Berry, distinguished by the 
surname of Cubi; the other Burnamed Fidisci, in the 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 73 

SECT. VII. GALLIA. 

second Aquitaine. iquitania Seciinda had for its me- 
tropolis Burdigala or Bordeaux, among the Biturgies 
Vibhci., who were not of Aquitanian origin. — What re- 
mains to us of Aquitaine between the Garonne and the 
Pyrenees, corresponds in a general manner to the covm- 
try occupied by the Aquitani^ in the first national divi- 
sion of Gaul, called Aquitaine Profier. The name of 
J\''ovemfiofiulana^ which this province of Aquitaine as- 
sumed, when it was elevated to the rank of a distinct 
province, seems to indicate that it was composed of 
nine people. It was this Aquitaine Proper, in the na- 
tional division, that the Vascons from beyond the moun- 
tains over-ran, communicating to it the name of Gas- 
cogne; while that of Aquitaine is perpetuated, with 
some alteration j in Guienne. 

BELGICA GALLIA BELGIUM. 

Limburg, Liege., Brabant^ Utrecht., Holland, Zealand, 
Alsace, and fiart of Upper Rhine, Franche-Compte, 
Snaitzerland, Lorraine, Luxemburg, JVamur, part of 
Champagne, part of the Isle of France, Picardy, ArtoiSf 
Hainault, and Flanders. 

From the southern extremity of Aquitaine, we must 
return northward to terminate our account of Gaul in 
the most distant part of it. In the multiplication of pro- 
vinces we distinguish tivo Belgic provinces, tivo Ger- 
manic provinces, and a ffth province called the Great 
Sequanois. — The capital of the Treveri, after having 
bi)rne the name oi Augusta, took that of the people, and 
became the metropolis of jBt/g-fca Prima. It also became 
a Roman colony, and served as the residence of several 
emperors, whom the care of superintending the defence 
of this frontier retained in Gaul. It was an object of 



74 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GALLIA. SECT. VIL 

vanity with this people to be esteemed of Germanic 
origin. The second province under this name, that is, 
Belgica Secimda^ furnishes a great number of commu- 
nities. Among others, the Rerni were distinguished by 
their inclination to the Romans, under the government 
of Caesar; and Durocortorwn, their capital, which taking 
the name of the people, subsisting in that of Rheims, 
was elevated to the rank of metropolis in Belgica Se- 
CM«c?a.— The two Germanic provinces, in the distribu- 
tion of Belgic Gaul, are of more ancient date than any 
subdivision that Gaul experienced after the capital di- 
vision of it into FOUR provinces under Augustus. We 
may even, without hesitation, refer them to the reign 
of Tiberius. This frontier, exposed to the enterprises 
of warlike nations beyond the Rhine, demanded for its 
protection particular precautions on the part of the Ro- 
man government; and under the command of Drusus, 
more than fifty fortresses were constructed along the 
river. For the reason of relative situation, the Germanic 
provinces were distinguished into higher and lower, and 
also into first and second, that is, Germania Superior, 
and Gerivania Inferiot, of which the latter was' also 
Germania Prima and the former Germania Secunda. In 
Lower Germany, the bank of the Rhine was occupied 
by the Ubii and the Gugerni, two Germanic people, who 
had transported themselves, under the reign of Augus- 
tus, to the hither, or Belgic side of the river. Colonia 
Agripfiina, Cologne, founded among the Ubii in the 
reign of Claudius, was the metropolis of this province. 
The second Germany did not confine itself to the coun- 
try between the rivers. The community oi the Tungri 
gave it a considerable extension on this side of the 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 75 

SECT. VITI. HISPANIA. 

Meuse. The Eurones, of German origin, and who ap- 
pear to have been annihilated by Caesar, in revenge for 
the fate of a Roman legion that had been slaughtered 
by this nation, occupied the country which was after 
them possessed by the Tungri. Argentoratum^ Stras- 
bourg, was the residence of a particular commander or 
prefect of this frontier. — The province of Sequanois, 
called Maxima Sequanorum^ dismembered too from 
Belgic Gaul, w^as not of such high antiquity, as the two 
Germanics. The Seguani formed a considerable com- 
munity between the Saone, mount Vosque, and mount 
Jura; which last separates them from the Helvetic ter- 
ritories. Their dependencies in the time of Caesar even 
reached to the Rhine. Extending their name to a pro- 
vince, it was natural that Vesontia^ or Besan^onj their 
capital, should become the metropolis of it. 



S33CTI0N EIGHTH. 

HISPANIA, IBERIA, VEL HESPERIA, 
SPAIN AND PORTUGAL. 

HisPANiA called Iberia by the Greeks, from the river 
tberus; which, having its mouth in the Mediterranean, 
must have been better known to early antiquity than the 
other great rivers of Spain, that discharge themselves 
into the ocean. From its remote situation towards the 
west, it acquired also the name of Hespehia. It is 
almost superfluous to say, that on the side where it is 
now environed by the seuy it is inclosed by the Pyrenees^ 
which separate it from. Gaul. ^ 

The Romans having successfully disputed with the 



76 EUROPE. CHAP. I, 

HISPANIA. SECT. VHI. 

Carthaginians the dominion of Spain, and reduced by 
long wars the Spanish nations who refused obedience, 
divided the whole country into two provinces, distin- 
guished by the appellations of Citerior and Ulterior. 
Under Augustus, the Ulterior province was again 
parted into two, Bcetica and Lusitania; at the same time 
that the. CiTEUion assumed the name of Tarraconensis, 
from Tarraco, its metropolis. This division of Spain 
must be regarded as properly belonging to the princi- 
pal and dominant state of ancient geography. 

Independently of these distinctions of provinces, 
Spain under the Roman government, was "divided into 
jurisdictions, called Conveyiius, of which there are count- 
ed fourteen; each one formed of the union of seveiiil 
cities, and held their assizes in the firincipal city of the 
district. 

•TARnACONENSISt 

Catalonia, Arragon, .N'avarre, J^ew Castile, Valentin^ 
Mcrcia, Biscay, Old Castile, Asturia, part of Leon, 
Gallacia; Eminho-Duro and Tralos-montes in Por- 
tugal. 
The Tarraconois occupied all the northern part of 
Spain, from the foot of the Pyrenees to the mouth of 
the Durius where it confined on Lusitania, and the 
eastern, almost entire to the confines of Bcetica, (which 
derived this name from the river Bcetis that traversed it 
during its whole course,) extending from the north to 
the west along the bank of the river Anas, by which it 
was separated from Lusitania; whilst this last-mention 
ed province was continued to the ocean, between th 
mouths of the Anas and Durius. 

It was not till about the age of Dioclesian and Con 



1 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 



SECT. VIII. HISPANIA. 



stantine when the number of provinces was multiplied 
by subdivision, that the Tarraconois was dismember- 
ed into TWO new provinces; one towards the limits of 
Baetica, and adjacent to the Mediterranean, to which the 
city of Carthago ^'bvc, communicated the name of Car- 
thaginensis; the other on the ocean to the north of Lusi- 
tania, and to which the nation of Callaici or Callosci, in 
the angle of Spain, which advances towards the north- 
east, has given the name of Callxcia, still subsisting in 
that of Gallicia, whilst the tract towards the Pyrenees 
retained that of Tarraconeiisis Profier, 

Towards the sources of the Ebro, and reaching to the 
©cean, dwelt the Cantabri^ a warlike people, who long 
defended their liberties. Divided into man]| cantons, 
they extended over Biscay and part ofAsturias, We 
raay judge of their ancient ferocity, by what is reported 
of a people who made part of this nation under the 
name of Concani, that they esteemed the blood of horses 
a most delicious beveragp. — To the Cantadrt, towardfe 
the west, were contiguous the Astures, who had also 
signalized themselves by a glorious resistance to the 
Roman yoke. Descending from the mountains to the 
plain country, we find their city under the name of As- 
turica Augusta, which is still preserved in that of Astor- 
ga. — One of the most powerful nations of Spain, and 
who sustained long wars against the Romans, were the 
Celtihcrii who joining the generic name of their race to 
the specific one of the nation where they settled, ex- 
tended themselves from the right or southern shore of 
the Ebro^ far into the Tarraconois. We may here speak 
of Kumantia which distinguished itself in renown above 
H 



79 EyROPE. CHAP. I. 

HISPANIA. SECT. VIII. 

all Other cities, for a resistance for fourteen years to the 
numerous armies of Rome, as a historian, a Spaniard 
by nation, and who is called Hisfianie decus, the orna- 
ment of Spain, attributes the defence of it to the Celci- 
beri. It is upon the river Darius, not far from its ori- 
gin, and above the city of Soria, that we find the site 
that JVutnaniia occupied. We must believe that it was 
replaced by another city of the same name, since there 
is mention made of its existence many ages after it was 

destroyed to its foundations by Scipio .fimilianus The 

Contestani occupied the country which now forms the- 
kingdom of Mercia and the southern part of Valencia. 
By far the most considerable city in this canton was 
Carthago ^ova, or Carthagena, which for the advantage 
of having always an open entrance into Spain, was con^ 
structed by the Carthaginians, and from them taken by 
the most illustrious of the Scipios. 

BAEtlCJ, 

• Andalusia and Granada. 

This province, which, as we have already said, was 
traversed by the river Batis, to which it owed its name, 
was distinguished from the other provinces of Spain by 
its richness and fertility. The number of cities which 
it contained in limits comparatively contracted, and four 
districts of jurisdictions or conventus, are sufficient teS' 
timonies of its abundance and population. It was also 
the first known by the advantages that the Phoenicians 
there found for their commerce. Its extent corresponds 
precisely with that part of Spain which, advanced to- 
wards the south, has taken the nyme of Andalusia, de- 
rived from Fandalitia, which the Vandals, before they 
were constrained by the Goths to pass into Africa, left 






CHAP. I. EUROPE. 79 

SECT. VIII. HISPANIA. 

to this country. Among the people which it compre- 
hended, the Turdetani occupied the greatest space in 
ascending the banks of the Baetis from the sea. — On the 
right bank of the Batis, Corduba, the head of Cotiven- 
tus, owed its foundation to the Romans, and did not yield 
in grandeur to any other in Ba/ic<f. We know that 
Cordova since served as a residence for the great Emirs 
of the Maures, who conquered Spain from the Goths: 
and this city was otherwise famous for producing the 
two Senecas and Lucian. — We must not omit to men- 
tion, however, Sisafio, noted for its mines of minium, or 
vermilion. The position of this place is sufficiently ob- 
vious in the modern name of Almaden, which it receiv- 
ed from the Maures; Maaden in the Arabic language 
being the appellative term for mines.— Ccrfzr, or Gades, 
owed its foundation to the Tyrians, on an island of small 
extent, but attached to another of greater size by a 
causey; while this is separated from the continent by a 
channel like that of a river, at the opening of which to- 
wards the sea, a holme or insulated hill, bore a temple 
dedicated to Hercules, the tutelar divinity of the found- 
ers of Cadiz. Its position beyond the strait, and the 
circumstance of its having one of the finest ports in 
the known world, were advantages which rendered it a 
city of high estimation. Receiving new augmentation 
under the Roman power, it became the capital of a 
Conventus. 

LUSItANIA, 

Bdra, part of Leon, the Eslremaduras, Alentajo, EntrC' 
tajo, and Algava. 
We have seen that this province which remains to be 
spoken of, extended itself from the river Anas to the 



80 EUROPE, CHAP. I. 



SECT. VIII. 



Durius, in passing along the shores of the (.)cean. We 
know that it is a conrimon practice to (SDnfoimd the li- 
mits of LusiTANiA with those of modern Portugal; and, 
in truth, the greatest part of this kingdom coincides 
with them. But it may be remaiked, thjit Portugal, 
passing on one side beyond the confines of Lusitama, 
by the two provinces which are north of the Douro, 
does not comprehend on the other, the extension of Lu- 
SiTANiA among the Vettones; inasmuch as Merida, which. 
was heretofore the capital of the Roman province, is 
not now a Portuguese city. The Tagus or Tajo, bisect- 
ing this extent of country in its course, separated two 
great nations, the Ludtani and Callaici. The Lusitani 
whose name makes that of the entire province, occu- 
pied the division north of ihe river; but in their primi- 
tive state being only bounded by the Durius, they en- 
croached on the territory which, in the extent given to 
the Tarraconois, had belonged to the Callul.i. The Ro- 
iTian yoke was an advantage to this Lusitanian nation, 
who are reported to have lived by depredation on their 
neighbours before they were obliged to apply them- 
selves to the culture of their lands. Olisifio is well known 
to have been the position of Lisbon; bxjt we may banish 
to regions of fable the application of this name to that 
of Ulvsses. — The southern part of Lusitania, bordering 
on the Ocean between the Tagus and the Anas, was 
occupied by the Ccluci, who tippear to have had some 
possessions even beyond the Anas. We may add, that 
a detached part of this nation was cantoned far distant 
in the neighbourhood of Finisterre, which, besides the 
name oi ^rtabrum, was also called Celticum. The prin- 
cipal city in this region of Lusitania, to judge by the 



CHAP. I. EUROPE- 81 



ITALIA. 



dignity or head of a Conventus, was Pax Julia; the 
name of which having been altered in the time of the 
Maures into that of Bakilia, is now hardly to be recog- 
nized in Beja. 

BALEARES ItfSULAE, 

Majorca^ and Minorca, isfc. 
The isles adjacent to the Tarraconois called Balea- 
res, &c, now Majorca and Minorca, &c, in the aug- 
mentation of the number of provinces, assumed the 
rank, of a particular one. — The principal city in the 
first, preserves its ancient name of Palma; the name 
of Partus Magonis given to that of Minorca by a Car- 
thaginian commander, is Port Mahone. — These islands 
■were occupied by the Phoenicians before the Romans 
seized them; and their inhabitants, it is well known, 
were eminently distinguished for their dexterity at the 
sling. 



SECTION NINTH. 

ITALIA, VEL HESPERIA, 



There is no idea of Italy more familiar than that of the 
renown which it acquired from having ruled over a great 
part of the ancient world, after the very inconsiderable 
beginning of her imperial city by Romulus, its founder 
on the Palatine Mount; whose policy was to increase its 
inhabitants, — as well by affording an asylum, in tiie con- 
struction of a sacred Grove, for the outcasts and male-* 
H2 



82 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

ITALIA. SECT. IX. 

factors of other communities, who fled thither to avoid 
punishment and shame,— as by a n-audulent seduction 
of the neighbouring women. We find it called Hespe- 
R|A by the Greeks, as being westward in regard to them. 
The other names of (Eenotria, and ^usonia, are bor- 
rowed from nations whose remote antiquity deprives us 
of all particular knowledge of them; and the name of 
Italia comes according to some authors, from a chief 
named Italus, of whom we have no other account. This 
name appertained properly to the part the most contract- 
ed between the two seas, and is known by lialia Pro- 
/iria, in distinction from the country under the Alps 
which is comprised in a more general manner in the 
name of Italia. 

CALLIA CISJLPINA, V E L. 'TOGA'TA CISPADANE AND 

fJiANSPADANS. 

Part of Savoy; Pisd?nont, Montserat, Allessandriiie, 
, Milan, Venice., part of Mantua; Ferrarese, Bolognese, 
Parma, and Genoa. 

Gallia Cisalpina extends from the declivity of 
the Alps, which looks towards the east, to the strand of 
the Adriatic, or Superior sea. The Rhatian nations, 
established in the Alps, confined the Cisalpine nations 
on the north, and the Sinus Ligusticus^ called the gulf 
of Genoa, bounded them on the south, A current cele- 
brated under the name of 7?uAzco, which formed of three 
brooks, is called at its mouth Fieuniesino, separated this 
country from Italia Propria, on the side of the Su- 
perior sea; and a little river named Macro, on the Infe- 
rior sea. Cisalpine Gaul was also called Gallia Togata, 
because the people inhabiting it were gratified tvith the 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 83 



privilege of wearing the Roman Toga. — The river Pa- 
dua ov the Po, issuing from the Alps, and traversing the 
whole breadth of tliis country from west to east, dis- 
charges itself into the Adriatic sea by many mouths; at 
lording in its course a distinction to the regions Gallia 
Cisfiadana and Gallia Transjiadanft, or Gaul on this side 
and that side of the Po, in relation to Italia Profiria. 

The country wherein the Celtic nations, on passing 
the Alps, came to establish themselves, was occupied by 
the Tusciy or Tuscans; who in their primitive state were 
not confined to the limits which preserve their name in 
Italy. We read in Livy that the Gauls, having vanquish- 
ed them near the Tesino, founded Mediolanum, or Mi- 
lan, in the territory of the Insubres; whose name, ac- 
cording to Caesar, was that of a canton dependant on the 
JEdui., or the community of Autun. And this event is 
referred in history to the time that Tarquinius Priscus 
reigned in Rome, or about six hundred years before the 
Christian sera. — The Taurini occur first of the Cisalpine 
nations, at the descent of the Alps, where Hannibal met 
them in passing into-Italy. Their capital, near the con- 
fluence of the Doria Riparia and the Po, took the name 
of Augusta; which being changed for that of the people, 
according to the general practice of the Gallic cities, is 
now called Turin, or, as the Italians write it, Turino. 
—Passing to the south of the Po, we find a pai't of Cis- 
alpine Gaul, separated under the special name of LigU' 
ria. The Taurini^ even on the anterior shore of the ri- 
ver, were reputed Liguri: and the Ligurian people ex- 
tended into Gaul between the Alps and Rhone. This 
great nation was not limited by the river Macro., which 
bounded the Cisalpine, but reached the banks of the Ar- 



84 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

ITALIA. SECT, IX. 

no, beneath the Apennine. — What remains of the Cis- 
alpine was Gallic, and not Ligurian. The Boii and Lhi- 
^fones, on their arrival in this country, finding other Gauls 
already established in the region called Trans/iadaiie, 
passed the river, and conquered from the Tuscans the 
lands situated between that and the apennine. These 
nations were both Celtic: the latter coming directly from 
the territory of Langres; while we find the former dif- 
fusing their name in Germany, Noricum, Pannonia, 
and Illyricum. The Boii settled themselves in the moun- 
tains; and the Ligones down the river, in the vicinity of 
the sea. — We also find mention of another people un- 
der the name of Ananes^ or Jnamani, — The Senones, 
or those of Sens, arriving last, and entering upon Urn- 
dria, passed the boundaries that distinguished the Cisal- 
pine Gaul from Italy Proper. In after-times these coun- 
tries were called Flaminiu and^»iz7/a, from the military 
roads so denominated, which intersected each other in 
their territories. 

The most celebrated city in this part of Cisalpine 
Gaul, is Ravenna.) at the bottom of the Adriatic Gulf; 
for after having been the residence of the emperors of 
the west, while Rome was possessed by the barbarians, it 
became that of a governor established under the title of 
Exarch, by the eastern emperors; who, at the time of 
the Lombards in Italy, were in possession of what is 
now called Romagna. Augustus had caused a port to be 
excavated at Havenna, for the purpose of a rendezvous 
and arsenal for a fleet in the Superior Sea; as that of 
Misena, in the neighbourhood of Naples, was in the In- 
ferior, rhe sea, retiring from its shores, has left the 
place *hcre this port existed at a considerable distance 



J 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 85 



in the land, but which nevertheless preserves the name 
of Classe. — There was a Canton of the Cisalpine coun- 
try, under tne name of Venecia Common fame would 
bring the Veneti fiotn Asia, under the conduct of Ante- 
nor, after the destruction of Troy. Be this as it may, 
they were in possession of the country which envelopes 
in paVt the head of the Adriatic Gulf, in a time anterior 
to the foundation of Rome, and while the Tuscans were 
extended in the Tranxfiadane. There is no mention of 
Venice, as a city in antiquity, but only as a port called 
Venetus. It is well known that the entrance of Attila into 
Italy, and the ruin of cities spreading terror through 
the country, caused a multitude of people to seek i*e- 
fuge among the lakes or lagunes which the sea forms 
lupon that fenny shore. This was the beginning of a city 
Kvhich has since been so much distinguished by success- 
jful commerce, and consequent aggrandisement of pow- 
jjcr.- — \Ve must also speak of the Euganei, who are said 
ijto have inhabited the maritime country before the arrival 
fof the Veneti; who drove them, as it would appear, into 
the mountains which make part of Rhaeiia, where we find 
them ufterwards established — Another people, named 
^Karniy occupied the northern side of Venetia, to the foot 
lOf those mountains which from them were named the 
iCarnian Alps; and the same name subsists in that which 
lis now called Carniola, though more contracted in limits 
jthan the territories of the Carni. — The city Aquileia was 
ia colony founded to serve as a barrier to Cisalpine Gaul, 
while the more remote provinces were not yet subject- 
ed; but it has never recovered from the devastation that 
it suffered from Attila. 



EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



iTalta propria. 
Lucca^ Tuscany^ Patrimony of St. Peter, Orvleto^ Um- 
bria^ Perugia, Romagna, jincona, Fermo, Abruzzo 
Ultra, Campania di Roma, Sabinna, Abruzzo Citraj 
Mulise Cafiitanata, Ultra princifiality, and Terra di 
La-voro. 

Italia Propria comprehended in its extent,' the 
cantons of Etruria, Umbria, Picenuin, Sabina, Latium, 
Camfiania, and Samnium. 

1st, Etruria. The country which the Tusci retain- 
ed after having lost what they occupied beyond the li- 
mits of Italy Proper, is the first that presents itself in 
these limits. And this nation, which was there known 
under the name of Etrusci, gave the name of Etruria 
to all that which borders the western bank of the Tiber 
from its source in the Apennine to the sea. According 
to the prevalent opinion, the Etruscans named Tyrrheni 
by the Greeks, were originally Maonians of Lydia, in 
■what is commonly called Asia Minor. They distinguish- 
ed themselves in the arts, at a time when they were lit- 
tle known to their neighbours. The frivolous science of 
augury also was esteemed peculiar to them. — This 
country extending along the sea, from Mucra to the 
mouth of the Tiber, is bounded on the north by the 
Afiennine, as by the Tiber towards the east — THe nation 
or body politic of the Etruscans comprised twelve peo- 
ple, to which as many ciiics gave the name; and it is re- 
marked that these cities were scattered at a distance 
from the Arno; if we except Arefium, Arezzo, which 
approaches it. Arctium, Arezzo; Cortona, which retains 
its name; Perusia, Perugia; and Ciusium, Chiusi, to- 
wards the east, as well as Folatcrra, Volterra, more 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 8J' 

SECT. IX. ITALIA. 

interior and inclining towards Sienna, were among these 
Etruscan cities. Again approaching the sea, a city 
which had enjoyed a distinguished rank among those of 
Etruria, from which Rome, in the dawn of the republic, 
borrowed the exterior ornaments of the magistraturc, 
was Vetuloniit whose site cannot be ascertained by any 
vestiges. We recognise more precisely those of Pofi- 
ulo7iium, on a point projected towards an islandj whose 
name of Ilva'i^ pronounced Elba, celebrated heretofore 
for its mines of iron, but more celebrated lately for a 
momentary retirement of Bonaparte. Rusella^ another 
of the Etruscan cities, is found in the name of Rosella, 
which its ruins bear, Folainium, another chief place of an 
Etruscan people, is Bolsena. The extremity of ancient 
Etruria, towards the lower part of the Tiber, compri- 
sed three more cities. The place which Falerii, the city 
of the Falisci, occupied, is named Palari, although aban- 
doned. Km, capital of the Veientes, distinguished by 
so obstinate a resistance to the Romans, existed on an 
eminence adjacent to a place named Isola. And Care is 
pow called Cer^Veteri. On the sea, the port which was 
a work of Trajan, under the name of Centum Cellg, is 
Civita-Vecchia: and the Partus Jugusti, excavated by 
Claudius, and to which Trajan added an interior ba- 
sin, still preserves the name of Porto, although entirely 
covered with earth and sand accumulated by the Tiber. 
2d, Umbria. The Tiber directing its course from 
north to south, borders successively Umbria., Sabina, am} 
Latium. The Utnbri are spoken of as a nation the most 
ancient in Italy. Not being at first bounded by the Ru- 
bicon., they extended to the Po, in the vicinity of i?fl» 



EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



venna, to which country the name of Umbria was appro- 
priated. 

3d, PicENUM. This division was an appendage to 
ancient Umbria^ by continuity on the Su/ierior sea. Its 
limits are sometimes extended to the river Aternua, 

4th, Sabina. The Sabini, of which Sabinna now pre- 
serves the name, succeeded the Umbriann on the same 
bank of the Tiber, as far as the river Jriio, which is Te- 
verone, It may be said in general of this people that it 
was reputed one of the most ancient in Italy, without 
entering into a discussion of the diversity of traditions 
on the subject. They are said to have migrated from 
a place near the city of jimitertium, to settle at Reate, 
which is Rieti, extending themselves to the Tiber. They 
founded a city named Cures, from which was derived 
the name of Quirites, given by the orators to the Ro- 
man people in public addresses. This city was neverthe- 
less, reduced to an inconsiderable place in the time of 
the Roman greatness; and the site of it is thought to be 
found under the name of Correse. Among the many ci- 
ties which made some figure in history during the first 
ages of Rome, but now for the most part obliterated, 
must be distinguished Tibur, on the Te verone, the al- ■ 
lurements of whose situation have caused it to be celc- j 
braled; and its name has been corrupted to Tivoli. 

5th, Latium. We have now arrived at Latutm,{rom 
which issued that power which extended itself in the 
three pdrts of the ancient world. — The Latini, the prin-^ 
cipal people of this territory, occupied the space between 
the Tiber, the Teverone, and the Sea; a space that made 
bat a email part of Latium; whose limits by the acces* 






CHAP. I. EUROPE. 89 



ITALIA. 



sion of many other people, correspond with the modern 
Campagna di Roma. Of these people the most powerful 
and most difficult to reduce were the Volsci. — Ancient 
Rome, for whose site at first Mount Palatine was suffi- 
cient, covered, at the time of the abolition of the regal 
government, seven hills; from which circumstance it ac- 
quired the name of Urbs SefiticolHs. These eminences, 
besides the Falntiniis, were the Ca/iitolinui}, Quirinalisy 
Vi?mnaliSi Esquiliiius^ Calius, and Aventinua. The Ja7ii- 
cidum^ beyond the Tiber, was not numbered among 
hills. The wall that enclosed iheni, and extended to the 
Janiculum, was fitiished by Sevvius Tullius towards 
the end of the second age of Rome; and a rampart 
called Agffer, covering the Quirinal, the Viminal, and 
the Esquiline was a vvork of his successor Tarquin, the 
Proud. Tho Camfius Martins^ now the most populous 
part of the city, was then beyond the wall, and without 
habitations. This enclosure, religiously respected as 
the cradle of the infant empire, subsisted not only to the 
last times of the republic, but for many ages under the 
cmperorsi and of the fourteen regions or wards into 
which Augustus divided this city, many were without 
this line. But by a new division made under Aurelian, 
elevated to the empire in the two-h\indred and seventi- 
eth year of the christiiin sera, its walls were advanced far 
beyond the Capitoline Mount, towards the north; and 
there is reason to believe that the present barrier of Rome, 
if we except the part of Tras-Tevere, which surrounds 
*the Vatican, represents that of Aurelian. Not to trans- 
gress the narrow limits of an abridgement, we shall only 
add, that at the foot of the Capitol, on one side of the 
I 



90 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



Forum Romanum^ now the Campo Vaccino, was erected 
the Milliarium Aureum, or gilded niilliary column, 
whence issued, as from a common centre, the great 
roads which conducted to different parts of Italy. — It is 
thought Lavinium, a city whose fdundation tradition as- 
cribes to ^neas, to whom the Romans affected to owf 
their establishment in Italy, existed in a place now callei.; 
Pratica, at some distance from the sea. Another place, 
in a similar situation, bore the name of Ardea^ and was 
the capital of the Rutuli, who fought with the Trojans, 
companions to JEneas. — It is thought that Alha-longo^ 
the rival of Rome, and of more ancient foundation, ex- 
isted in a place whose name is now Palazzo. The posi- 
tion of Suesta Pometia, which held the first rank among 
the cities of the Folsci, cannot be ascertained. That of 
CorioUy from which an illustrious Roman acquired the 
title of Coriolanus, is equally unknown. 

6th, Campania succeeds to iai^iMw. This is the coun- 
try of Italy which nature appears to have most favoured; 
the beauty and fertility of which being much celebrated 
in antiquity. It made the principal of what is now named 
Terra di Lavoro. Its extent along the sea is carried to 
the limits of Lucania; and it is bounded on its interior 
side by Samnium. — Capua^xhe magnificent and delightful ^ 
city, has not preserved its position; but has taken another 
on the Volturno, about three miles distant, opposite to 
that which a city named Casilinum occupied, but wher^ 
its pristine splendour and greatness have not followed it. 
— JVea/ioHs, Naples, a Greek city, as were many others 
on the same shore, bore primitively the name of Par- 
thenofie, said to be that of a Syren, and has profited by 
the decline of Capua.— Pw^eo/i, Puozzola, Baice, or Baya, 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 91 



in the vicinity of Naples, are places celebrated for iheir 
delights; Misenum^ for being the station of a Roman 
fleet; and Cumx^ for the incantations and pretended pro- 
phecies of a Sibyl of the same name. 

7th, Samnium. Under this artrde will be compiised 
all that extends from Sabina and Picenum. to J/iulia; or 
otherwise, from the limits of Latium and Camliania to 
the Sufierior Sea. The Apennine runs obliquely 
through the length of this space. It is well known how 
much exercise the martial nation of Samnites afforded 
the Roman arms during many ages. They are said to 
be descended from the first Sabines; and their name is 
Saunites in the Greek writers. — Among many separate 
people, the Marsi, contiguous to the Sabines, must be 
distinguished; as we find them in history contending 
singly with the Romans. They inhabited the borders of 
the Lacus Fucinust which from a place in its evirons is 
now called Lago di Celano; and near it are the ruins of 
Marubiuni, the principal city of this nation. 

MAGNA GRAECIA, 

Puglia, Terra di Bari, Terra D'Olranto, Basfialicata, 
Salerno firinci/iality^ JYorth Calabria^ and South Cu' 
labria. 

What remains to be surveyed of the continent of Italy 
in its southern extremity, is distinguished among the 
authors of antiquity by the name of Magna Grxcia, iVonv 
the number of Greek colonies there established. It con- 
tained the cantons of Ajiulia^ Lucauia. and BruAum. 

1st, Apulia or Calabria. We find sometimes the 
name of Afiulia extending to the heel of tliis continent, 
although this extremity be more commonly denomi- 
nated lafiygiuy or Messufiia. That of A/iulia subsists 



92 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

SECT. IX. ITALIA. 

under the form of Puglia. The side of Apulia, making 
the spur of the boot to which the figure of Italy is com- 
pared, peculiarly bore the name of Daunia, as having 
been the domain of Dauniis, fdther-in-law of Diomede, 
who, on his return from the war of Troy, establishing 
himself in this country, founded the city of ^»-/»", whose 
site preserves its name. — This canton is at the same 
time the country of the ancient Calabri, distant from 
that which in a posterior age took the name of Calabria. 
The Salentini appear likewise to have been a people of 
ancient Calabria. Tarentum., or Taras according t© the 
Greeks, is Tarento, which the Lacedaemonians occupi- 
ed, and which was the occasion of the coming of Pyr- 
rhus into Italy. This city has communicated its name to 
the gulf that advances into this extremity of the conti- 
nent. Brundusium^ Brindisi, on the Adriatic Sea, was 
the port most frequented for passing between Italy and 
Greece. 

2d, LucANiA. The country which bore the name 
of Lucania brings us back to the bottom of the Gulf of 
Tarentum, and extends thence ecross the instep to the 
Inferior Sea. — We must here mention Helea^ or Felca, \ 
a Phocgean colony, which derives celebrity from the stoic j 
school of Zeno, and is now replaced by the city of Cas- '• 
tello-a-mare della Brucca. — On the shore of this gulf, I 
Metafionium., where Pythagoras taught iiis doctrine, and \ 
Sybaris have left few or no traces: the Sijburites were a [ 
people much condemned for the licentiousness of their 
manners: and their city having been destroyed by the 
Crotonians, other Greeks (among whom was Herodotus 
the historian) re-established it under the name of TV/k- 
r«, which it maintained till it ceased to exist. 



AP. I. EUROPE. 93 

!C. ITALIA. 

!d, Brutium. The country which is now called Ca- 
ria, south of ancient Lucania, was occupied by the 
itii.— -The city Petiiia, built by Philoctetes after his 
arn from the Trojan war, has taken the name of 
ongoli. Croton which was a great city, is ijow called 
(tona. The neighbouring promontory, where the 
If of Tarento terminates, and named Lacinium, is 
ed Cabo della Colonna, from the remains of a tem- 
to Juno. — We shall mention some rocks that lie off 
i cape, because among other names under which they 
(Car in antiquity, we find that of the Isle of Calyfiso. 

;Ve will now mention, in a few words, the divisions 
[taly in general, by Augustus, into eleven ke- 
ns; though more curious than useful to be known. 
3 FIRST consisted of Latimn and Campania^ to the 
:r Silarus. The second encroaches on that which we 
ie seen belonging to Sa7nniu7n^ including the Herfiini; 
jsnding thence into Apulia^ and the more ancient coun- 
'jof the Calabrians to tlie lafiygian promontory. Lu' 
a, and the country of the Brulians, composed the 
RD. The FOURTH, reputed to include the most mar- 
I people of Italy, comprised Sabina, and the rest of 
inium. Picenum^ one of the most populous countries 
[Italy appears to have constituted the fifth region. 
bria made the sixth; and Etruria,, to the river Ma- 
.1, the seventh: which completed ancient Italy pre- 
ily so called. The eighth region of Italy then ex- 
ded, between the Apennine,an(i the river Po, xo Pla- 
tia inclusively. Liguria^ in as ending the same bank 
he river to the summit of the Alps, made ihe ninth. 
12 



94 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

ITALIA. SECT. IX. 

in the TENTH, Venetia and the country of the Carni, were 
comprehended. The eleventh comprised the space 
betwen the limits of Venetia, and the Pennine, or higher 
Alps. So that besides the seven that fall in Italy Pro- 
per, the remaining four were in Cisaljiine Gaul, i. e. 
TWO in Cisfifdane, and two in Transfiadane. 

Before concluding this section, we shall take a tran- 
sient survey of the great Roman ways, which occur not 
less frequently in history than in geographical treatises. 
They are distinguished for the most part by the names 
of their constructors. It is well known that they were 
measured from mile to mile; and that columns called 
milliary, at each mile were inscribed with an indication 
of tlie distance; and this was practised in every province 
subject to the empire. 

Via Appia. The ViaAppia, or Appian Way, approach- 
ing the sea at Tcrracina^ conducts to Cafma, then to J3e- 
nevento; whence it leads to Brindisi by two routes, the 
right by Venosa, the left by Tarento, passini^- along the 
coast of the Adriatic from Bari. From Capua there is- 
sued another road, which traversing l.ucania and Bruii- 
um, extended to lirgio on the Sicilian Strail. 

ViaFlaminia. The Via Flaminia,ov Flaminian Way, 
directed its course northwaid, towards the sh.y.e of tlie 
Adriatic or Superior Sea, to Rimini, where it termi- 
nated. 

Via ^Emilia. The Emilia Via, or Emilian Way, suc- 
ceeding the latter, penetrated into Cinalfiine Gaul: not 
to mention a branch of this way, which passing along 
the margin of the Adriatic Gulf at its bottom, conduct- 
ed to Aquileia. 

Valeuia and Salakia Via. In the interval of the 



CHAP. I. EUROPK. 95 



SICILIA, SARDINIA, &C. 



Appian and Flaminian, two other ways, Valeria and Sa- 
laria, coast along the sea: the first, passing through Cor- 
finium^ arrives at Aternum; the second, by i?fc^e, is con- 
tinued to jincona. 

Via Aurema. The Via Aurelia, or Way of Aure- 
lius, traversing- the maritime parts of ^'^rurfa, and those 
of the Liguslic Gulf, enters by Mce into Gaul, where 
the Provei)9i»ls still call it Camin Aurelian. 

Via Claudia. Another way named Claudia, or the 
Way of Claudius, separated frotn the Flaminian near 
Rome, ran thiough the middle of Etruria, and joined 
the Aurelian in approaching /-mtzo. — This is all that this 
nature of the work permits to be said of the Roman 
ways: and it was judged necessary to give a general idea 
of the subject. 

' SECTION TENTH. 

SICILTA, SARDINIA, CORSICA, ET JEOLI^ INSULiE. 
SICILY, SARDINIA, CORSICA, AND THE LIPARI ISLANDS. 

These islands were colonised by, and partly in pos- 
session of the Phenicians, Trojans, Iberians, Greeks, 
Carthaginians, Romans, and Arabs or Moors. The Si- 
cani Siculi, and Cyclopes, as to Sicily; the Cyclo/ies also 
as to the Molije; and the figures as to Corsica, from 
the adjacent continent, were their original inhabitants. 

Sicilia, Sicania, vel Trinacria. Tiienameof 
SiciLiA, is less ancient than that of Sicania, if the 
Sicani possessed this island before the Siculi, who were 
made to issue from Italy before the I'lojan expedition, 
and to reduce the Sicani to a corner of the island to- 
wards the west. It is well known that the three points 



96 EUROPE. CHAP. I 

SICILIA, SARDINIA, &C. SECT. X. 

which determine the figure of Sicily caused it to be 
called Trinacria. Having received Greek colonies 
before the Carthaginians became powerful there, it 
afforded three different languages; the Roman, the 
Greek, and the Punic— Messanc, Messina, very near 
to Pelorum, had the name of Zancle, before the Mes- 
senians, driven from the Peloponnesus by the Lacedae- 
monians, established themselves there. — The most fa- 
mous of volcanoes is JEtna.^ whose modern name of Gi- 
l)eIlo is formed from the appellative term for a moun- 
tain in the language of the Arabs, to whose domination 
Sicily was subjected by conquest from the Greek em- 
perors of Constantinople. — In the planes which succeed- 
ed were the dwellings of the Lastrigones, ancient and 
savage inhabitants of the country, as well as the CijclO' 
pes. — SyracusXi the most considerable of the cities of Si- 
cily, and much celebrated in Greek and Pvoman history, 
retains indeed the name of Syragusa, but only on a little 
insulated point heretofore named Ortygia, which made 

one of the regions of a vast city Enna-, reputed the 

centre of the island, and famous for having been the sup- 
posed dwelling of Ceres and Proserpine, is named Castro 
Joanni or Giovanni — The honey of Hybla was prover- 
bially celebrated: and we find several cities of this name 
in Sicily. But that under present consideration is dis- 
tinguished by the surn-.me of Major, in the dependence 
of Catania, and which has ceased to exist. 

Sardinia vel ichnusia. The Greeks assimilating 
the island of Sardinia to the print of a foot, called 
it Ichnusia; and they speak as well of the fertility 
of the soil, as of the insalubrity of the atmosphere. A 
part of the country is covered wiih mountains; and 



CHAP. 1. EUROPE. 97 

SECT. X. SICILIA, SARDINIA, &C. 

those of the northern end are so rugged and inacces-' 
sible, that they were called Insani Monies. Accord- 
ing to tradition a colony of Africans first established 
themselves in Sardinia, under a chief whose name, 
Sardtis, they communicated to the island. There were 
also known colonies of Ideriaris, or Spaiuards; from 
whom were long distinguished the Trojans- under the 
name of Ilians, from Ilium, their ancient country. The 
Cart/iaginians, too, had founded the cities of Calaris 
and Sulci; the former of which, preserving its name in 
that of Cagliari, has become the capital of the island — 
The posiiion of Turris Libisonis is indicated by Porto- 
di-Torro, on the northern shore. This city was Roman; 
and its environs retained the name of Romangia^ till the 
time when the Arabs of Barbary invaded the island. 
They superseded it with the name of Barbaria, which 
■was yfterwards. given to all this canton of Sardinia. — 
Olbia^ a Greek city, and one of the most ancient, having 
a port which looks towards Italy, and the nearest to it of 
any other, ought to be about the place where now exists 
Terra-Nova. 

Corsica vel Cyrnos. Corsica is nearer to the con-" 
tinem of Italy than Sardinia. The Greeks named it Cyr- 
nos; and ihey pretended that the PhooEans were the first 
who made any settlement on it. But the insular nation was 
of Ligurian race; and they were described of a savage 
character, such as is natural to the inhabitants of a country 
Vugged and difficult of access. The Corsicans had expe- 
rienced the tyranny of the Carthaginians before the Ro- 
mans undertook to subject them. This isle received two 
Roman colonies; Mariana, from Maiius, and AleriUi 
from Sylla. 



EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



RH^TIA, NORICUM, &C. SECT. XI. 

JE.OLIJE, Melite, et Gaulos. The little isles not 
far distant north of Sicily, called JEolia, may proper- 
ly be included in this article. They were so named 
from being the supposed residence of Molus; who 
accordi'tg to the fable, there retained the winds impri- 
soned in their caverns, and released them at his plea- 
sure. They were also called Vulcania^ because they 
had volranos; and .are now named Lipari, from Lipa- 
ra, the principal of them. — This is also the place to 
mention Melite^ or Malta; and Gaulos^ or Gozo, which 
accompanies it. The towns placed now so advantageously 
on the ports of Malta, are neither of them the ancient 
city of the island; whose position was in in a place in- 
terior, and named Pebatto, from a term which the do- 
mination of the Arabs of Barbary brought into use, in 
this island. 



SECTION ELEVENTH. 

RH^TIA, NORICUM, PANNONIA, ILLIRICUM, DACIA, 
M^SIA, ET THRACIA, 

PARTS OF SWITZERLAND AND GERMANY; HUNGARY 
AND PART OF EUROPEAN TURKEY. 

In assembling these several countries in the same 
SECTION, we fill the space between the unsubdued bar- 
barians onthe north; and the states of Greece, and part 
of Italy, on the south; which extends from the Alps to 
the Black Sea, on the southern bank of the Danube in 
the commencement, and on either bank of the same, in 
the latter part of its course. But as the distinction to be 
made between these provinces of imperial Rome will , 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 99 

SECT. XI. RH.ETIA, NORICUM, &C 

not admit oftheir being described collectively, we shall 
treat of them under their respective titles. 

RHAEfIA ET VINDELICIA, 

Grisons of Switzerland; and ^mrts of Sivabia and BavU' 
ria of Germany. 

RhjEtia. This name is also written Raetia, without 
the aspiration of the Greek orthography. RHiETi a, pro- 
perly so called, occupied the Alps from the frontier of 
the Helvetic country of Gaul, to Venetia and the limits 
of JVoi'icum; by which it was bounded on the east. Fin- 
delicia confined it on the north, and the flat country of 
Cisal/iine Gaul on the south. The country of the Gri- 
sons makes only a part of ancient Rh^etia. The sour- 
ces and the course of the Rhine to its entrance into the 
lake to which the city of Constance communicates its 
name, the course of the (Enus, or the Inn, from its 
source to the point where it bounded JVoricum, belonged 
to RH.ffiTiA; as did also the declivity of the Alps which 
regards the south, where Ticinus, or the Tesin, Addua, 
or the Adda, Athesis, or the Adige, begin their courses. 

The Rhati were a colony of the Tusci or Tuscans, a 
civilized nation, established in thiscountry when the Gauls 
came to invade Italy. This colony, becoming savage, and 
infesting Cisal/iine Gaul, were subjugated under the reign 
of Augustus, by Drusus. And because the Vindelici armed 
in favour of their neighbours, Tiberius sent a force that 
reduced them also to obedience. This double conquest 
formed a province called Rh^tia, comprehending the 
country of the Vindelici, without obliterating altogether 
the distinction. But in the multiplication that Dioclesi- 
an, and some emperors after him, made of the provin- 
ces, RhjEtia was divided into two, under the distinction 



100 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

RH^TIA, NORICUM, &C. SECT. XI. 

oi the Jirst and second; a circumstance thai caused Rh^- 
TiA proper (as to the first) and Vindiletia (as to the 
second) to resume their primitive distinctions. 

ViNDELiciA. We must now speak more particularly 
of 'the country of the Vindelici^ which from the city 
of Brigantia^ or Bregentz, on a lake which took the 
name of Brigaiitinus, before it was called the lake of 
Constance, extended to the Danube; while the lower 
- part of the CE?2us, or Inn, separated it from J\'oricum. 
A powerful colony was established in the angle form- 
ed by the two rivers, Vindo and Licus; whence it would 
seem that the nation derived its name; and that of Au- 
gusta, given to this colony, is preserved, as it is well 
known, in Augsburg, between the rivers Lech and 
Wertach; the former of which separates Suabia from 
Bavaria. 

NORJCUM, 

Parts of. — Bavaria avd jiustria. 

NoRicuM extends along the southern shore of the 
Danube, from the mouth of the Inn to Mount Cetius, 
which causes the river to form a flexure a little above 
the position of Vienna. Embracing the beginning of, 
the course of the Bravus, or Drave, and comprehendingl 
that which composes the duchies of Carinthia and Sti-1 
ria, it is bounded by the summit of the Alps on the south. 'i 

This country, which is first spoken of as having a 
king, followed the fate of Pannonia; for, when that was 
reduced, Noricum also became a province, under the 
reign of Augustus. Afterwards, and by the multiplica- 
tion of provinces, there is distinguished a jVoricum Pi- 
fiense, adjacent to the Danube, fiom a A^'oricum M'editer- 
raneum, distant from that river in the bosom of the Alps. 



CHAP I. EUROPE. 101 

SECT. XI. RH^TIA, NORICUM, &C. 

Lauriacum appears with superiority among the places of 
Noricum; and a Roman fleet had there a rendezvous, oi' 
station, upon the Danube. — The position of JVoreia is re- 
markable, inasmuch as it is said to have been occupied 
by a body of Boi'ans, who are to be distinguished from 
those established in Bohemia, and from a time anterior 
to the invasion of the Marcomans, who drove this nation 
into NoKicuM. 

PAKNONJA, 

Parts of — Austria^ Hungary^ Croatia^ and Sclavonia. 
Pannokia stretched along the right bank of the Da- 
nube, from the frontier of JVoricmn to the mouth of the 
Save: the country beyond the river being occupied, from 
the limits of the Germanic nation of the Quadiansy by 
Sarmatians, called Jazyges Metanasta. On the south- 
ern side, Pannonia was bounded by Dalmatia compri- 
sed in Illyricum, It received the Drave from its issue 
out of A'''oricum, and enclosed the greatest part of the 
course of the Save. 

In the war which Augustus, bearing yet but the 
name of Octavius, waged with the Ja/iydes and the 
Dalmatians of Illyricum, the Roman arms had pene= 
tvated to the Pannonians. But it was reserved for 
Tiberius, who commanded in these countries, to re= 
duce Pannonia into a province. It was divided in 
the time of the Antonines into Sufierior and Inferior, 
and the mouth of the river Arrabo, or Raab, in the Da= 
nube, made the separation of it, according to Ptolemy. 
Afteuwards we find employed the terms _/?rsif and second^ 
9S in the other provinces of the empire: and in a later 
age we see a tliird, under the name of Valeria^ between 
K 



102 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

RH.ETIA, KORICUM, &C. SECT. XI. 

the former two. The second, occupying the banks of 
the Drave and Save, obtained also the name of Savia, 
vhich now gives to a canton of this country the name of 
Po-Savia; expressing in the Sclavonic language a situa* 
tion adjacent to the Save. 

Among the several people which are named in the 
extent of Pannonia, the Scordisci and the Taurioci 
are particularly noted. Gauls by origin, and far re- 
moved from their ancient dwelling as the Boii, they 
were separated by Moris Claudius.^ which appears toi 
extend between the Drave and the Save. We know^ 
moreover, that the Scordisci had penetrated far into 
31<esia, which succeeds to Pannonia, on the same 
shore of the Danube. — The first among the cities of the 
upper Pannonia, in following the course of the Danube 
a little below Mount Cetius, called now Kalenberg, is 
Vindibo7ia, well known to be Vienna. — The union of a lit"- 
lie river named Bacuntiusi now Bozzeut, with the Save, 
determines the spot occupied by the city of Sir7mum, 
which, under the reigns posterior to the Augustan age, 
shone among the most illustrious of the empire: and 
this district of Pannonia included between the Danube 
and the Save is still called Sirmia, 

ILLrSICUM, 

Hlorluchia, Dalmatia, with parts of Croatia.^ Bosnia, and 
Sclavo?na. 
I'he Wdmeoi Illyricjwi varies in its final syllable, be- 
ing sometimes employed under the form oi Illyris. The 
nationc.1 name is Illyrii. And it is common in Fj'ench 
to say rillyrie, though the name oi Ilhjria is scarcely ifl 
at all used in the Latin, The extent of this countryl 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 103 

SECT. XI. RH^TIA, NOHICUM, &C. 

from the little river Arda^ which divides it from Istrta,* 
will conduct lis along the Adiiatic Sea to the mouth of 
the Drilo^ or Drin, where we must stop; although be- 
yond that, as far as Chaonia, on the confines of hpirus.^ 
which makes part of Greece, the country was occupied 
by Ulijrian nations As to the limits on the side of t'ari' 
nonia, which make the northern frontier, we firid them 
determined by many positions under the name of Finesy 
which may be attributed to the Roman government, as 
we find these points of termination in many countries 
that have been subjected to that power. 

Tiie lUyrian nations are described in the earliest age 
as a savage people, who printed marks on their skins, 
like the Thracians; and the piracy which they practised 
furnished the Romans with the first occasion to arm 
against themi more than two hundred years before the 
Christian aera; though the entire submission of the coun- 
try was only acliieved by Tiberius towards tlie end of the 
reign of Augustus. — Two particular provinces are distin- 
guished in it; one towards the head of the Adriatic, na- 
med Liburnia; the other, more famous under the name 
oi Dalmatia, which it still preserves. That part of the 
province of Croatia called Murlaka, under mount Mbius, 
and contiguous to Jstria, was the division of Liburnia 
occupied by the lafiydea. — The site of Metulmn^ the 
principal city of the la/iydesy at the siege of which we 
find Augustus, while a triumvir, giving proofs of intre- 
pidity, is not unknown when we observe the place na- 

* It is proper to mention that the province of Istria, other- 
wise called Histria, formerly made part of lUyricum, till Au« 
gustus detached it therefrom, and added it to Italy. 



i04 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

f l>r.'i...-ir.»w jj'g ; ..'i ..' " ... 

RH^TIA, NORICUM, &C. SECT. XI. 

i fem..-;.j. . ■ 

ined Metuc Vetust in the country of Licka, among the 
mountains which the lafiydes inhabited — Under the 
Greek emperors a particular province called Pravalita- 
na,was comprised in the extent of a department formed 
.under the title of Illyricum Orientis^ that was only limit- 
ed by the Euxine Sea, and has thus no relation to the 
primitive and national state which contributes to form 
the object of ancient geography. 

DACIA (Trajana*) 

Transylvania^ Walachia, Moldavia, Beasarabia,and fiart 

of Hungary. 

Two nations associated, and to whom the same lan- 
guage was common, the Daci and the Geta, occupied a 
great space of country, which, from the shore of the Da- 
nube towards the north, extended to the frontiers of Eu- 
ropean Sannada. The Jazyges Metanastee above men- 
tioned, a Sarmatic nation, established between Pan- 
nonia and Datia, are comprised by their situation in the 
object under consideration. — Transylvania is commonly 
considered as denoted by Dacia. But numerous remains 
of Roman retrenchments, constructed to cover the con- 
quered country, manifest that part of Hungary was com- 
prised in it; and, by the positions which appertain to 
Dacia, the modern provinces of Walachia and Moldavia 
were also comprehended in this vast province, which the | 
arms of Trajan annexed to the empire. 

There is every reason to believe that the Geta were of * 
Scythian origin; and when we pass over into Asia, and treat 
of Scythia, the hive of this nation will be shown under the 



♦ The surname of Trajana was added to distinguish this 
Dacia fron^ Dacia Aureliana, a province of Musia. 



€HAP. I. EUROPE. 105 

SECT. XI. Rtl^TIA, NORICUM, &C. 

name of Gete^ which it still preserves. There were Getce 
or Getea established in Thrace, on the route which Dari- 
us, son of Hystaspes, took towards the Ister. But in the 
expedition of Alexander against the Triballiy near two 
ages posterior to that of Darius, there is mention of 
the Getes only in their position beyond the river. Im- 
patient, however, of their limits, Moesia and lUyricum 
sulFered from their incursions; and the Celtic nations 
there established were destroyed by them. Augustus, 
for whom the Danube^ as the Rhine, was a boundary 
which nature seemed to give to the empire, contented 
himself with repelling the Daciana., and fortifying the 
bank of the river. But Trajan had conceived an appe- 
tite for conquest, and anrc^xed it to the empire under 
one vast province. 

Although the Dacians and Getes appear to have 
formed a combined politic body, and the whole coun- 
try was equally reduced by Trajan, yet we observe a 
local distinction between them; inasmuch as the Da- 
cians inhabited the upper, and the Getes the lower part 
of the course of the river, and along the Euxine. The 
name of Getes was more familiar to the Greeks, and 
that of the Dacians to the Romans; hence this name con- 
stituted that of the country. The Goths, a Teutonic 
or German nation of the same Scythian race with the 
Daci or Geta, who migrated from Asia in an anterior 
age, invaded Dacia in the middle of the third century. — . 
A Roman way entering into Transylvania, conducts at 
its issue, to the capital city of all the country, which, 
under the name of Sarmizegethusa having served for the 
^residence of Decebalus, vanquished by Trajan, received 
K 2 



106 EUROPE. CHAP, I. 

RH^TIA, NORICUM, &C. SECT. XI. 

from this prince that of Ulfiia Trajana, with which its 
primitive name was also associated. Ruins preserve 
the memory of its ancient magnificence to the place,, 
■which is inhabited only by a few herdsmen, and called 
Warhel, which signifies the site or position of a city; ov 
otherwise Gradisca, denoting the same thing. — A way 
which issues from it, leading into the north of Transyl- 
vania, passes through a noted city named Afiulum^ which 
has declined into a small place called Albe-Julie, or 
more properly Albe-Gyula. — The Cokajon mons is sin- 
gularly remarkable for having been the residence of a 
pontiff in whose person the Getes believed the Deity 
was incarnate; with a similar faith to that of eastern 
Tartars, who maintain the transfusion of the same soul 
in their Lamas, from him who is celebrated under the 
name of Zamolxis. A river of the same name with the 
mountain flows at its foot; and is recognised under that 
of Kason, on the confines of Moldavia and Transylvania. 
There is still known in this country a people of Roman 
origin, speaking a language manifestly derived from the 
Latin; and who, under the name of Vlak or Falak, ha- 
ving occupied a canton of Tartary beyond the Caspian 
Sea, where they had been transported, returned with the 
Patzinaces and Bulgarians to their primitive dwellings. 
To include all that this article embraces, it remains 
that we speak of the space between the limits of Roman 
Dacia and the province of Pannonia. In this country; 
there inhabited, as has been already premised, the /a- 
zyges, a Sarmatic nation, who were surnamed Metanas'^ 
f(C, which denotes them to have been removed or driven 
from their native seats: and we find indeed other Isazy- 
ges established on the Palus Maeotis.— The country is 



EUROPE. 107 



■RHJETIA, NORICUM, &C. 



covered on the side of the north by a great chain of moun* 
tains, called Jl/iea Baatarnice or Carfiathcs, now Carpa- 
thian mountains. — The name of Anarti is attributed Xh 
, a particular nation contiguous to the Dacians towards 
the north Of the lazyges it is remarkable that, notwith- 
standing the revolutions which Hungary has sustained, 
they are still known in the environs of a place about the 
height of Buda, whose name of lazberin signifies the 
Fountain of lazyges. 

MQESIA, 

Servia and Bulgaria. 

We comprehend imder this name the country which, 
between the limits of Thrace and Macedo?i on the south, 
and the banks of the Ister or Danube on the north, ex- 
tends in length eastward from Pannonia and lUyricum, 
to the Euxine sea. It must be remarked that the name 
of the country and of the nation is also written Mysia^ 
and MysU as the name of the province south of the PrO' 
fiontia in Jsia^ and of its people, who are thought to have 
issued from the Mcesia now under consideration. This 
country corresponds in general with those which we 
call Servia and Bulgaria. 

Mcfsia was in great part more anciently occupied by 

the Scordisci, a Celtic nation; and when we read that 

Alexander, in the first expedition towards the later,* 

__ . . ' 

* The reader must be informed, that the name of Ister be- 
came appropi'iated to the Danube; but the ancients have not 
explained themselves with reg-ardto the point of division of the 
Danubius and Ister. It appears too high at Vindobona, or Vi- 
enna, and much too low at Ariopolis. Strabo establishes it at a 
place remarkable by the cataracts, between the two. 



EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



RH^TIA, NOKICUM, &C. 



encountered the CeltSi or Gauia, these are the people al- 
luded to. And although the Scordisci were almost an- 
nihilated at the lime when the Roman power extended 
in this country, it is remarked that many names of pla^ 
i cs on the Ister are purely Celtic. Darius, son of Hys* 
t»spes, marching against the Scythians, encountered the 
(ietes, who were reputed Thracians, on his passage, be- 
fore arriving at the later; and we have seen that this 
extremity of the country on the Euxine bore the name 
of Scythia. 

Mcesia appears to have been subjected to the empire 
under Augustus and Tiberius. Its extent along the river, 
which separated it from Dacia on the north, was divided 
into Su/ierior and Inferior; and a little river named Ga- 
brua^i or Ctbrus^ now Zibriz, between the Titnacus and 
the CEscus, makes, according to Ptolemy, the separation 
of these two Mxsias. But Mcesia suffered encroachment 
upon its centre in the admission of a new province, un- 
der the name of Dacia. Aurelian, fearing that he could 
not maintain the conquest of Trajan beyond the Ister^ 
called Dacia., abandoned it, and retired with the troops 
and people, -which he placed on the hither side of the ri-" 
ver, affecting to call his new province the Dacia of Au- 
relian. That which Mwda preserved of the superior 
division, was called the First Mcesia; and there is reason 
to believe that the name of Masua, which remains to a 
canton south of the Save, near its confluence <with the 
Jster., comes from this Mcesia. The inferior was the 
Second Mcesia. There was afterwards distinguished in 
Dacia the part bordering on the river under the name 
of JRi/ienais; and that which was sequestered in the in- 
terior country under the name of Mediterranea, occupi- 



CHAP. I. EUfiOPE. 109 

SECT. XI. JRHJETIA, NORICUM, &C. 

ed probably a country contiguous to Macedonia^ and 

known mote anciently by the name of Dardania The 

land, insulated by the division of the Intei- into many 
arms at its entrance into the Euxine,, was called Peuce^ 
a nanie preserved in that of Piczina, and from which 
was derived that of the Peucini, whom it is remarkable 
to find re-appear in the Lower Empire under the names 
of Picziniges and Patzinaciies. — Sardica, which was the 
metropolis of Mediterranean Dacia, acquired from the 
Bulgarians the name of Triaditza. The vestiges of it 
are contiguous to Sophia, which now holds an eminent 
rank, being the residence of a Begler-beg, to whom the 
government of all the country comprehended under the 
name of Roumelia is confided.-— 'l^auresium, where the 
emperor Justinian was born, was an obscute place be- 
fore his reign; but becoming then the predominant city 
in this country, was called Justiniana P'imu; and is still 
a place of consideration under the name of Giustendil, 
vfhich is an evident depravation of its primitive. The 
preiogatives of a great metropolis, invested in Justinia- 
na by its founder, having been translated by the Bulga- 
rian kings to Achrida.^ which they had chosen for their 
residence in the AVw Efiirus^ has induced the error of 
confounding this with the other. There was moreover 
a second Justiniana; for the city of Ulfiianum^ the na- 
tive place of Justinian, received this name on its embel- 
lishment; and that of Giustendil is also its modern de- 
nomination.— All this interior of Moesia was more anci- 
ently called Dardania^ from the name of a people known 
to be savage in an early age. And although the Medi- 
terranean Dacia extended over Dardania^ we distinguish 
a particular province of Dardania under the lower em- 



110 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

RH.£TIA, NORICUM, &C. SECT. XI. 

pire, iind whose metropolis was Scu/ii, which preserves 
this name, or otherwise Uskup, towarris the sources of 
the jixius^ beneath Mount Scardusy which is now called 
Monte Agent aro. 

There remains a division of Mossia adjacent to the 
Euxint; in which the part neai'est to the mouths of the 
Ister wiis formed, under Constantine, into a particular 
province nan.ed Scythia. — The city of Tomi, which the 
banishment of Ovid has illustrated, assumed in this pro- 
vince the rank of metropolis; and is still known in the 
name of Tomeswar, althouj^h otherwise called Baba. 

Romania, or part of Uoumelia. 

Thracia extends from the frontiers of Macedonia., 
along the JEgean Sea, and the Fro/iontis,Xo the Jiuxine; 
while Mount Hxmus separates it from AJcesia. Mount 
Rhodofie envelops it on the western side, as does Hcemus 
"on the norttiern. It is improperly that the name of Ro- 
mania appears exclusively appropriated to Ihracia in 
modern ninps; and Rournelia or Roum-Vilaiet, in the 
modern state of tniniijs, is not a peculiar denon>ination 
for tlie country called heretofore Thraci; for it is equal- 
ly applicable to Greece. 

Thrace is desciibed in antiquity as a wild country, 
only fertile in places near the sea; inhabited by nations'^ 
addicted to rapine, and of a character corresponding 
with the local circumstances. We find Thrace divided 
•among many kings before it fell under the Roman do- 
mination, which did not happen till the reign of Claudius. 

In the subdivisions which the age of Dioclesian and 
Constantine produced in the empire, Thrace was formed 
into many provinces. That part which borders the Pro- 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. Ill 

SECT. XI. RH^TIA, NORICUM, &C. 

/lonlis was called Euro/ia, as being the entrance of Eu- 
rope, opposite the land of Asia; which is only separated 
by the narrow channel called the Bosfihortis. — Hami- 
Montus was the name of another province, which de- 
scended to the Hebrus. — Rhodope borders upon the 
^'Egean Sea; and the name of Thracia was reserved for 
a portion of the country towards the sources of the He^ 
brus. 

The country called Chersonesus^ or Peninsula, has on 
one side the gulf named Mela?ies, and on the other the 
narrow sea called the Hellespont^ or the Slr;,it of Darda- 
nelles, as we now say. On this strait Callijiolis is distin- 
guished under the name of Gallipoli. But a little be- 
yond it is a small stream named JEgosTpotamos, or the 
River of Goats; rendered memorable by an event knowu 
by all to be the destruction of the Athenian fleet, by the 
Spartan general Lysander, which proved ruinous to the 
affairs of the Athenians, and terminated the Peloponne- 
sian war, after twenty years duration. — Sestus, which 
Avas the most frequented passage of the Hellespont, on- 
ly exists in a ruined place named Zemenic, which was 
the first that the Turks seized in passing from Asia to 
Europe, under their Sultan Or-Khan, about the year; 
135 6. Here it is proper to remark, that about the 
height of the Chersonese are two isles of small extent 
in the jEgean Sea, named Satnot/irace and Lnbros, and 
which have preserved their names in Samothraki and 
Imbro: the former having been celebrated in antiquity 
as sacred land, and an inviolable asylum. — The most 
considerable of the maritime cities, respecting the shores 
of the Euxine, was Ferinthus, elevated in the manner of 
a theatre, and of which the name Heraclea, posterior tp 



112 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

RH^TIA, NORICUM, &C. SECT. Xlv 

the other, subsists in that of Erekli, applied to the posi- 
tion of this city now in ruins. Byzantium^ become Con- 
stantinople, caused the decay of Heraclea, whose see, 
notwithstanding, enjoyed the pre-eminence of metropo- 
litan in the province distinguished in Thrace by the title 
of Ruropa, Byzantium occupied a point of land con- 
tracted between the Propontis and a long cove, whicli 
forms one of the best ports in the world, and was here- 
tofore named Chryso-ceras or the Horn of Gold. At 
this point begins a channel called Boa-fiorusf which sig- 
nifies properly the passage of the ox; opening a com- 
munication between the Propontis and the Euxine: itnd 
this Bosphorus was surnamed Thracicus^ to distinguish it 
from another Bosphorus called the Cimmerian. The 
choice made by Constantine of a situation so advantage- 
QUs as that of Byzandum, to construct in the empire a 
new Rome, which took the name of CojistanimofioUs, 
every tyro in literature knows. It was in occupying the 
ground along the Propontis and the port, affecting, in 
imitation of Rome, to cover seven hills, that Constanti- 
iiople extended far beyond the ancient Byzantium. Th^ 
enclosure of this was nevei'theless preserved, and it stiil 
separates the seraglio of the Sultan from the city. The 
shore of the Bosphorus, or channel of Constantinople, on 
the side of Europe, terminates near some insulated 
rocks, which are called the isles, with the name of Cya- 
nex in antiquity. This extremity of Thrace and of Eu- 
rope, contracted between two seas, was enclosed by a 
long wall called Macron-tic hos, commencing a little be- 
yond Heraclea, and terminating on the shore of the 
Euxine, near a place named Dercon^ or Derkous. This 
barrier, of which there are only some vestiges remain^- 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 113 



IH^TIA, NORICUM, &<f. 



ing, was constructed by the emperor Anastasius, at the 
beginning of the sixth century, to resist the incursionvS 
of many foreign nations who had penetrated even to the 
environs of the city. — In the place where the Hebrus 
first changes its course, from the eastward to descend 
south, Hadrianopolis, had primitively borne the name of 
Oresdas, which the Byzantine authors frequently em- 
ploy in speaking of this city. The three rivers in which 
it is pretended that Orestes, polluted by the murder of 
his mother, purified himself, had their confluence herei 
This city, which enjoyed the dignity of a metropolis in 
the province of Hamitnontus, served as a residence for 
the Ottoman sultans before the taking of Constantino- 
ple, and is known to the Turks by the name of Hedrine. 
The nation of Odryssa, one of the most considerable of 
Thrace, occupied its environs. — Ascending towards the 
fountains of the Hebrus, not far from the foot of mount 
Hsemus, we find that P/nlt/i/iofiolis, so named from Phi- 
lip, father of Alexander, acquired also, from its situation 
among hills, the denomination of Trimon/ium, but still 
preserves its name of Philippopoli, or Philiba, as the 
Turks abbreviate it. This was the metropolis of the 
province especially distinguished by the name of 7%ra- 
cia: it was in the canton of the Bessi, whose ferocity was 
said to surpass the rigour of their climate. 



114 EUROPE. CHAP. I 



SECTION TWELFTH. 

GRiECIA. 

GREECE OR ROUMELIA. 

To JUDGE of the extent of Greece by the power 
which enabled its states, individually, to arm against 
each other, or unitedly, to sustain the attacks of formi- 
dable foreign enemies, would be to form an idea of a 
great country. A more intimate acquaintance with it. 
however^ will undeceive us in this point. For we shall 
see that Greece^ properly so called, scarcely contains 
more space than the kingdom of Naples occupies in the 
continent of Italy. And the island of Sicily alone is deem- 
ed equal to the Pelo/ionnesus, considered exclusively of 
Greece Pro/iers although in it there are enumerated six 
distinct provinces.— The circumstance that contributes 
among others to the glory of Greece, is well known to 
be, that, though reduced by the Roman arms, she tri- 
umphed in Rome, by establishing the arts which in 
this mistress of the world were unknown But ha- 
ving remarked a relative distinction in the extent of 
the name of Greece, it becomes us to signify here, that 
it is in its most comprehensive space that we propose 
to treat it. Returning to the frontier of lilyricum, thence 
to take our departure, we shall include Macedonia in its 
extension over Efiirus A''ova on the one side, to the con- 
fines of Thrace on the other, as it respects the north, 
with the projection of land to the south, which is embra- 
ced by the Ionian Sea on the west, and the Mgean Sea 
on the east. 

The Greeks gave themselves the name of Hellenes^ 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. lis 



and that of Flelines is still known to the Turks in speak- 
ing of the Greeks. But the country they called Hellas 
did not extend over all that is comprehended under the 
name of Greece; for it excluded Macedon, and the 
greater part of Epirus. There is mention made of a 
primitive people under the name of Felangi^ in a state 
of society little better than that of nations which we con- 
sider as savages. Three principal races afterwards are 
distinguished; Jones, Dores, and Moles. Attica was the 
original seat of the Ionians, who, in the Peloponnesus, 
occupied Achaia. The Dorians, migrating from the 
environs of Parnassus, became powerful in Peloponne- 
stis. The Etolians inhabited Thesz-aly. when foreign- 
ers came from Egypt and Phoenicia to civilize the first 
inhabitants of Greece. In detailing the pjrticttlars of 
this interesting portion of our subject, we will eiDbrace 
them imder THREE general divisions. 1st, That part 
which occupies the north, including Epirus JVova, and 
the ancient state of Macedon, under the term of Mace- 
donia. 2d, Thessaly, with Epirus properly so called, 
and divers particular countries which follow to the isth- 
mus of Corinth, will constitute the division wiiicii shall 
be called Gr^cia Propria. 3d, The concluding' di- 
vision will necessarily be tJie Peloponnesus. 

MACEDONIA, 

Albania and Macedonia. 
Epirus Nova. Illyrian people occupied, by a conti- 
nuity of extent, the neighbouring country of the Adria- 
tic sea to the confines of Epirus, before it was attribiited 
to Macedon by the Romans, and after it*liad made a par- 
ticular province under the name of Epirus JV'ova, or 
the New Epirus. 



116 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GRACIA. SECT. XII. 

The principal city on the coast, and a place of the 
greatest resort, was a colony from the neighbouring 
island of Corcyra, under the name of Efii-damnus; but 
which, having changed its name to Dyrrachium, for the 
evil omen that iis signification indicated, is ncrw called 
Dvirazzo. - A principal city of the interior country, and 
attributed to the Dassaretii was Lychnidus, near a lake 
from which the Drino derives its course. The Bulga- 
rians, who composed a great state, more than an age af- 
ter the reign of Justinian, or in the eighth of the Chris- 
tian aera, took Lychnidus for their capital, changing its 
name to Acbrida, which still subsists. 

Macedon. In its more ancient state, Macedon was 
bounded on the west by the country whereof we have 
just spoken, and confined on the side of the east by 
Thrace; by which it was tnore contracted, before the 
borders of the river Strymon were comprised in it. It 
had Dardania on the north, and was bounded on the 
south by Thessaly. But in the interior of a country so 
renowned, there is still wanting much of the actual in- 
telligence from which ancient geography derives its 
most important illustration. 

The northern part of Macedon bore the name of Pa- 
onia; and divers nations comprised under this name ex- 
tended to the frontiers of Thrace. The name oi Pela- 
gnnia sometimes supplied the placj of it, and penetra- 
ting into the interior of Macedon^ had Stobi for the prin- 
cipal city. And when Macedon was formed into two 
provinces, this was the metropolis of one of them; while 
the capital of tne other division was called Salutaris.-— 
The situation of a particular canton towards the begin- 
ning of the Erigon, named Deuriofius^ is more certainly 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. lir 

SECT. XII. Gtt^CIA. 

determined than many others by this circumstance.-^ 
The position of a city of the name of Heraclea is given 
its situation on a Roman way leading from Lychnidus to 
Thessalonica; and this city indicates the canton of Lyn- 
cesfzs, since we know it to have been included therein.— 
That of Eordic appears to have been contiguous, to- 
wards the Illyrian country. — The most distinguished 
country of Macedon, and most adorned with cities, was 
Emathia, Edessa^ otherwise called Mge.^ or the city of 
the Goat, was the royal city before Pella; and it still re- 
tains the first of these names, as well as that of Mogle- 
na, the name of the country in its environs. Pella^ which 
had taken rank of Edessa, was advantageously situated 
on a lake, which communicated with the sea by a river 
called Ludias, holding a parallel course with the Var- 
dari. On the western side of the Thermaic Gulf is a 
district called Pieria^ wherein the Romans finished the 
conquest of the kingdom of Macedon.^East of the Ax- 
ius lies Mygdoni, one of the most extensive countries 
of Macedon, and which was conquered, with a great part 
of Thrace, by the predecessors of Alexander. ThessU' 
lonica, which under the Romans became the capital of 
Macedon, was called Therma before Cassander gave it 
the name of his wife, the sister of Alexander; and it 
still flourishes under the name Saloniki. A gulf which 
was called Singiticus Sinus washes one of the flanks of 
the famous Mount Mhos, and the Strymonicus Sinus the 
other. This mountain which, from its monasteries, is 
now called Agios-Oros, or Monte-Santo, is only connect- 
ed- with the continent by a low and narrow tongue of 
Sand, which was easily opened to Xerxes, to afford a 
L 2 



118 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



passage to his fleet, as reported in history. Advancing 
towards Thrace^ and a little above the sea, we find the 
ruins oi Philififii, which owed its name to Philip, the fa- 
ther of Alexander, and whose plains were the scene of a 
battle fatal to Brutus and Cassius. 

GliAECJA, 

Chimera, Thessaly or Janna, Livadia or jicaia. 

Under this title we comprehend all that which, south 
(Sf the former part, is included between the Ionian Sea 
and the Gulf of Corinth on the one side, and the JEgean 
Sea on the other. Efnrus and Thessalia fill the northern 
part of this space; and, looking from west to east, Epirus 
precedes Thessaly. 

Epihus. The shore of Ejiinm commences at a point 
named uicro-ceraunia^ directly opposite to the heel of 
Italy, and terminated by mountains which, by reason of 
their precipitate elevation, are obnoxious to thunder- 
bolts, and thence called ^cro'ceraunii Monies.— The 
canton situated in these mountains, and along the sea, 
was named Chaonia; and the name Chimera, which was 
that of a maritime place of Chaonia, is now applied to 
the whole country. — Thesfirotia follows, and is one of 
the principal parts of Efiirus, extending to the entrance 
of the gulf of ^/M6m«a. Corcyra is separated by a very 
narrow channel from the continent of Epiius, opposite 
to Thesfirotia. This is the isle of the Fheacians in Ho- 
mer. The city of the same name with the isle, and 
which received a colony of Corinthians, who became 
powerful, did not occupy precisely the site which is gi- 
ven to the modern city, but was confined to a peninsula, 
which they call Chersopoli; and the present name Cor- 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 119 



fu, derived from a Greek term signifying an elevation, 
has no relation to the ancient, — The interior of Epirus 
is little known. Dodona^ celebrated for being the seat 
of the most ancient oracle of Greece, was sequestered 
in this interior country. Molossisy the country of the 
Molossi, a prevailing nation in Epirus, extended along 
the jlmbracius -Sma*, which received its name from -^//z- 
bracia, the royal city of Pyrrhus and his race. This ci- 
ty was on a river named Arethon, which has given the 
name of Arta to a city situated a little above the site of 
the ancient Ambracia; and Arta, having become the ca- 
pital of the country, 1 as communicated its name to the 
gulf. The camp which the victor occupied at Actium 
became the site of a city under the name of Mcofiolis; 
the privileges of which caused the decline oi Ambracia. 
Its position is known in that of Prevesa-Vecchia. 

Thessalia. Thessaly is bounded on three sides by 
mountains; towards the north by Olymfius-, which runs 
along the sea coast to Mount Stymfihe: on the west by 
Pindus, and on the south by CEta. The Peneus traver- 
ses the country from west to east, to discharge itself in- 
to the Thermaic Gulf, after having received a great 
number of rivers. — The different countries which divide 
Thessaly are Estiaotis and Pelasgiotis, in the neigh- 
bourhood of the Pe7ieus; the one towards its source, 
and the other on its stream below; Thessaliotis more 
southward, and Phthiotis too, approaching the sea with- 
al. — The nation oi Perrhabi gives the name of Perrhte- 
bia to the country adjacent to the mountains north of 
Thessaly. — Dolofiia is detached towards the confines of 
that which we shall see in the sequel belonging to ^to- 
fm.'—Lariesa, the domain of Achilles, was the most con- 



120 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GR.EGIA. SECT. XII. 

sideiable of ihe Thessalian cities, and it still subsists in 
the same position, without any alteration in its nathe. 
It is after having left this city on its right, that the Pe- 
7ieus, enclosed between Olym/ius and Ossa^ in a narrow 
and rapid course, is discharged into the sea by a mouth 
called Lycastomo, or the Wolf's mouth; and the whole 
length of this passage, through wild and picturesque 
scenes, is the famous valley of Temfie, — Azorus was the 
pi'incipal city of Fclagonia, surnamed Tri/iolids, or the 
Three Cities, towards the frontier of Macedon, as the 
expedition of a Roman commander has shown. — Passing 
south of the Feneus, we find Pbarsulus on the river 
Enifieus^ which the Afiidanus receives. This place, 
which a signal and decisive battle between Julius Caesar 
and Pompey, in which the former was victorious, has 
rendered ever memorable, preserves in the maps the 
name of Farsa. — Beyond Pher«^ and at the bottom of 
the guif named Pelasgicus, and now Volo, was the city 
of Demetrias, which owed its foundation and name to 
Demetrius Poliorcetes: and this was deemed by Philip 
one of the proper posts to impose chains on Greece.— 
The entrance of this gulf had a port from which it is 
pretended that the ship Argo took her departure, and its 
name oi Jfiheta preserves some traces in that of Fetio. 
— Magnesia^ without the gulf, near the promontory of 
Sepias, where the fleet of Xerxes suffered from tem- 
pests, has communicated its name to a canton of this 
country. Opposite are ranged many isles south of the 
Thermaic Gulf: the principal of these are Sciathus^ Sco- 
pelua, Halonnesua, and Peparethus; of which the two 
first preserve their names — But returning to the interi- 
or country, we shall mention a city seated on an eleva- 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 121 

SECT. XII. GR^CIA. 

lion that immediately commands the plains of Thessaly. 
It was called Thauinacia, from the sentiment of admira- 
tion wherewith the spectator was impressed, on contem-. 
plating from it a delightful and luxuriant prospect, atter 
having been among gorges and precipices, which must 
be passed to enter Thessaly on ci»ii side of P/iacia. — La- 
mia is remarkable for havmg given the title to a war 
which the Greeks maintained with Macedon after the 
death of Alexander. — Upon the southern side ot the 
Sinu-i Maliacus begin the famous defiles of Thennofiylay 
which took its name from the warm baths in its neigh- 
bourhood. This pass is celebrated for a battle fought 
befote Christ 480. between Xerxes and the Greeks, in 
which 300 Spartans desperately resisted, for tnree duvs, 
five millions of Persians, when they were crowued with 
the laurels of victory in the momeits of a glorious 
death, earned in checking the merciless, pi'oud, and 
sanguinary enemy of their country. — In a Utile plain 
among the mountains was placed a city narneil T achysy 
or the Rugged. It is also called Heradea Trachinia, 
from Hercules, who is said to have been thrown upon 
his funeral pile upon the summit of Mount (Eta, wiiich 
is not far distant. 

AcARNANiA. Having thus terminated Thessaly, we 
must return towards the Ionian Sea. That which was 
called Acarnania, and whose name is not entirely lost in 
that of Carnia, was separated from Efiirus by the Sinus 
Ambracius. This country extended along tin strand of 
the sea to the mouth of the river Achtlous; the course 
of which formed the separation of Acarnania and Mto- 
Ha, — Anactorium was the first place in entering the 
abovementioned Sinus; preceding even the position of 



122 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GR^CIA. SECT. XII. 

Actium. whose ruins are distinguished by the name of 
Azio. It was in a basin, contracted by two correspond- 
ing points, and interior to the more capacious bay, that 
the famous naval combat was exhibited which decided 
the empire of the world, between Augustus and Anto- 
ny. — To describe the rest of Acarnania, we must depart 
from the continent. The island of Leiicadia, which pre- 
serves the same nrime, bearing also that of JVeriltisy- was 
previously a peninsula, but has been insulated by art, in 
dividing a low and narrow beach, by which this poition 
of land was prolonged from the main. The city oi Leu- 
cas, which gi\es it the name, is not in the same position 
with that of a Venetian place called Santa-Maura. — The 
island of Cffihallcnia, or, according to the modern ortho- 
graphy, Cefalonia, being a situation near to Leucadia, 
should find a place here. In the interior of the country, 
a city (.f the same name with the isle has changed this 
name for Borgo; and near the eastern shore we find a 
position called Same which also appears to have been a 
nanie for the entire island.— A channel of the sea sepa- 
rates this, from another isle called the Little Cefalonia; 
but which, in its proper name of Theaki, appears to re- 
present that of Ithaca: it would appear absurd to confine 
the Dame of Ithaca to a holm that lies before Theaki, 
since liiat bears the name of lotaco. And we see in 
Hon.er thist Ulysses commanded the Cephallenians, 
without whom his domain would have been extremely 
contracted. 

Mtoiak. JEtolia succeeds to Acarnania^ and from 
the tnargiii of the sea penetrates to the moimtains on the 
confines of Thessaly, where the Valaques, who were 
transported thither by the Greek emperors, still inhabit, 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 123 

SECT. XII. GE^CIA. 

whence this canton has taken the name of Valakia. — The 
Mtolians are seen acting a distinguished part under the 
last kings of Macedon,tiIl compelled to yield to the irre- 
sistible fortune of the Roman arms.-— The river Evemis^ 
which traverses this country through the whole length 
of its course, is now called Fidari. Calydon is seated to- 
wards the lower pai't of it: but the principal city of M.U->- 
liawas in the interior country, and named T/iermns; and 
which an expedition of Philip, son of Demetrius, has 
made known, together with some other local circum- 
stances of the same canton. 

LocRis, Phocis, and Doris. Entering P/iocis, we 
must speak of the Loa% surnamed OzoltSy or Ill-sceni- 
ed, according to the fable which reports that the arrows 
of Hercules, dipped in the blood of the Hydra of Lemu.. 
and being there buried by Philoctetes, exhaled a mephi- 
tic odour. They were also distinguished by the name 
of Hesfierii^ or Western, from those who inhabited the 
east of Phocis^ opposite Eubcea. — J^aufiactus^ which we 
call Lepanto, is the principal city oi Locris. — It is to be 
remarked that, according to antiquity, the Sinus Corin- 
thiacua commences on the coast of j^tolia, from the 
mouth of the Jc/ieloUs, before it is much contracted by 
two points, Rhium and ^nd-RMum, which, being forti- 
fied with castles, have acquired the name of the Darda- 
nelles of Lepanto; the name of Lepanto being also 
commvmicated to the gulf. And it was also in this an- 
terior part of the Corinthiac gulf, and not under Lepan- 
to, which is beyond the strait, that the Christian and Ot- 
toman fleets contended in the year 1571. — On the fron- 
tiers of Phocis^ Amphissa^ which has taken the name of 
Salona, belongs also to the Locrians. 



124 EUROPE. CHAP. I 



Phocis offers nothing more celebrated than the ora- 
cle of Delfihos, and Parnassus Mons, which covers this 
city towards the north. £>e/j2/ios is now a small place 
named Castri; and the most elevated point of Mount 
Parnassus is called Heliocoro. — Crissa, to the south of 
Delphos, gave the name of Crissteus Sinus to the part of 
the Corinthiac gulf which is now called the Gulf of Sa- 
lona. Anticyra, on the isthmus of a peninsula, has ta- 
ken the name of Aspro-Spitia. 

The little mountainous country of Doris gives birth 
to the river Ce/ihissus; and near to its course Elatia, the 
greatest city in Phocis, exists only in a very small place 
called Turco-chorio. The Locri, whom the city of O^tus 
had surnamed Ofiuntii^ and those who from Mount Cne- 
mis were called Efii-Cnemidii^ bordered on the sea which 
separated this part of the coniinent from Euboea. 

BoEOTiA. Bceotia succeeding Phocis^ extends along 
the sea opposite the island oi Eubcea; and, touching on 
the other side of the Corinthiac^ is bounded by Attica on 
(he south, from which it is separated by the river Aso. 
fius. — The land here being rich and fertile, and the air 
more thick than in Attica, of which the soil is dry and 
sterile, is thought to have made the fancied difference 
in the minds and genius of the natives of these two 
countries. — In the interior country Theba, which owed 
its foundation to Cadmus the Phenician, and from whom 
.the citadel of this city was called Cadmea, retains some 
vestiges under the name of Thiva. Destroyed by Alex- 
ander, who spared only the house of Pindar, it rose again 
from its rmws.'—Lebudea^ distinguished by the oracle of 
Trophonius in a cavern where he was precipitated, ap- 
pears to be the capital city; whence it comes that theji 



GHAP. I. EUROPE. I35 



country bears, improperly, the name of Livadia in the 
maps. — Cheronaa is found, as well as the preceding ci- 
ty, in the most northern part of Baotia^ towards Phocis. 
Cheronxa is rendered famous by a victory of Philip, fa- 
ther of Alexander, over the Greeks, and for one of Sylla 
over the generals of Mithridates, and still more for having- 
given birth to Plutarch — Orchomenus was reputed so 
opulent in the earliest times, that its riches became pro- 
verbial — Hxliartus^ on the side of the lake Cofiias, was 
destroyed by the Romans in the first Macedonian war. — 
At the bottom of the Corinthiac gulf we may cite Leuc- 
trCi not far distant, as a place which the victory of Epa^ 
minondas over the Lacedemonians has illustrated.-— 
jPlataa, whose name recalls to the memory the defeat 
of the Persians commanded by Mardonius, is separated 
from Eleutherte by Mount Cijthxron. 

Attica and Megaris. The name of Attica is dc" 
rived from the Greek term Acte, denoting a shore or 
beach; and Atiica justifies this etymology of its name, 
in having two sides embraced by the sea. We shall 
extend it to the isthmus, comprising therein Megaris, 
which nevertheless pretended to the separate dignity of 
an independent state. — The city Athene^ whose glory is 
well known on the subject of the fine arts, which from 
her bosom were diffused through all the nations where 
they are best cultivated, preserves its name under the 
form of Atheni; and it is by depravation, and by prefix- 
ing the preposition of place, that Athens is called Sp- 
lines by the uninformed. This city, though situated at 
some dist nee froai the sea, had nevertheless three 
ports; the principal of which, although the most distant, 
M 



126 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

GR£CIA. SECT. XII. 

named Piraus, now Porto-Leone, had a communication 
with the city by means of two walls forty stadia in length. 
Munychia and Phalerm were the two other ports — 
Among the mountains of Attica, Hymettus and Penteli- 
cus, near Athens are the most known; that for the ho- 
ney which it afforded, and this for its marble. — We 
know how much the mysteries of Ceres distinguished 
the city of Eleusis, the name of which is now pronoun- 
ced Lessina. The isle of Salamis, which takes the name 
of Colouvi from a place that it contains, leaves but a nar- 
row passage to the cove which the sea forms before 
this city. — Near the opposite shore, Marathon preserves 
the same name, which a victory of the Athenians over 

the Persians has rendered immortal Among the events 

of the Peloponnesian war, a particular circumstance of 
a garrison being there established, that proved very gall- 
ing to the Athenians, may create a curiosity concerning 
the position of Decelia, on the route from Athens to 
Chalcis in Euboea. — Attica, extremely contracted be- 
tween two seas, terminates at the promontory of Sunium; 
where the columns still standing, of a temple of Miner- 
va, have caused it to be called Cabo Colonni. 

EuBOEA. The island of Eubcea is comprised in our 
present division, as covering Bmotia and Attica; and on- 
ly separated by a channel, so narrow in one place as to 
permit it to be connected with the continent by abridge. 
m^ChakU was t: e principal city of this great island, and 
one of the three thta in the jiidt^nient of the king of Ma- 
cedon, would enable their possessor to enslave Greece. 
This ci derives its present name of Egtipo, or Egri- 
vo, (as the modern Grevks; pronounce it) from the £«- 
rifiuny or the strait on which it is te^Jied; and where, un- 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. ISr 

SECT. XII. GE^CIA. 

der the ai-ches of the bridge abovementioned, the sea 
makes a fluctuation as regular as extraordinary. Ere- 
tria was the second city in Euboea, at a s^hort distance 
from Chalcis on the same shore: and a place ■which the 
Greeks now call Gravalinais, appears to correspond with 
its position. — At the southern extremity of Eubcea, Ca- 
rystus, whose marble was esteemed, retains the name 
of Carisfo. The authors of antiquity describe the Ca- 
filip-reum Pro7nontoriu7n, at the same height on the ^ge- 
an Sea, as a place of perilous navigation. 

PELOPONtfESUS 

The Morea 

The Peloponnesus owes its name to Pelops, son of 
Tantalus, king of Phrygia; with the addition of a Greek 
term, which would iniiniate that the country whs an 
island, although it adheres to the continent by an isth- 
mus. From the line of its coast being sei rated by num- 
berless inlets, and more deepl\ indented by many gulfs, 
it has been assimilated to a leaf; and from that of a mul- 
berry it has acquired the name of Morea. — Six coun- 
tries Compose the Peloponnesus, viz, Achaia. .4rgoliSf 
Laconia^ Messenia^ Elis, arranged successively on the 
sea in the circumference of the country, and Jtrcadiaj 
which occupies its centre. — Concerning the gulls that 
environ the Peloponnesus, it may be said that the north- 
ern part is bounded by the Sinus Corinthiacus; the Sw 
ronicun opens between Argolis and Attica; Jrgolicus 
succeeds it between Argolis and Laconia; and tinaliy the 
Laconicus and Messeniacus^ separated by a great pro- 
montory, penetrate the southern and western part. 

AcHAiA. Achaia is a margin of land which, along 



128 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



the Corinthiac gulf, occupies the northern side of the 
Peloponnesus from the isthmus; comprehending the dis- 
tricts of Corinth and Sicyon, which have their particular 
names of Corinthia and Sicyonia — It is remarkable that 
it was under the name of Achaians that the Greeks con- 
tended for their liberties against the Roman power: 
whence it happened that, under the general name of 
Athuia^ conquered Greece became a province of the 
Roman empire; and the name of Grecia does not appear 
amont^ the provinces enumerated in the Notice of the 
Enipire — The Isthfnus which affords entrance to the 
Peloponnesus, is now called Hexa-Mili; its breadth be- 
ing estimated at six modern Greek miles, which are 
shorter than the Roman. The Ist/vnus was destined to 
the celebration of games called Isthmian, which, in a 
place contracted by two seas, were dedicated to Nep- 
tune.— Corm^Aws, a rich and powerful city, whose situa- 
tion on the opening of the isthmus might make one of 
the shackles of Greece in the opinion of Philip, owed 
its re-establishment to Caesar, after having been erased 
to the foundations in the war of the Romans against the 
Achxan league; and a wretched hamlet on its site still 
recalls it to memory, in the name of Corito. This city- 
had two ports; Lechxum^ on the Corinthiac gulf, and 
Cenchreay on the Saronic; besides a citadel on the pike 
of a mountain, which, by reason of its situation, was na- 
med Acro-Corhif/ius. — Sicyon, from its having been go- 
verned by kings in a remote age, has taken the name 
of Basilico — Mgium was the place where the states of 
Achaia were held; and which is thought to have been 
replaced by Vostitza, on the borders of the gulf. 

Argolis. The country oi Argolis derives its name 



Chap. i. europe, 129 



IVom the city of Mgos^ one of the most renowned in 
Greece, and still exists in the name of Argo. Its lit- 
tle river, which from the most ancient king of the coun- 
try was named Inachus, loses itself in a morass near the 
.«ea. — Mycena^ having become, after Argos, the residence 
of kings, was that of Agamemnon. — Tyrius had been 
the dwelling of other princes; and its sequestered situa-- 
tion is found expressed in the name of Vathia, which 
the place now bears. It is deeply bosomed in moun""- 
tains; and the entrance to it is through a narrow gorg^-, 
which affords a bed for a torrent. — J\emea^ on the con- 
fines of Corinthia, must also be mentioned, on account 
of the celebrity it acquired from the destruction of the 
J\i'emean lion in the neighbouring forest by Hercules, and 
the institution of the Nemean games by that hero in 
commemoration of that event, according to some. On 
the shore of the Argolic gulf, wc discover in a pool call- 
ed Moluii the lake Lerna, which its Hydra, also killed 
by Hercules, has m.ade famous. — Ejiidaiirus, on the Sa- 
ronic gulf, whicli a particular adoration rendered to Es- 
culapius distinguished, preserves its name under the 
form of Pidavra. — Egina is directly opposite, not far 
from the continent of Argolis; and we see in history that 
the inhabitants of this isle were powerful in their ma- 
rine. 

Laconia. Laconia succeeds Argolis: its name under 
the Greek empire took the form Tzacona; and it is er- 
roneously that in modern maps the name of Sconia ap- 
pears in the centre of Argolis. 

It is well known how much the laws and the martial 
valour of the Spartans distinguished their nation in 
M 3 



130 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 

f - r ,,, . 

GB.MCIA. SECT, XII. 

Greece. It is known also that the names oi Lacedxtnon 
and Sfiarta were common to the same city. The river 
Eurotae envelops it so as to form a peninsula; and the 
place which this city occupied is called Paleo-Chori, or 
the Old Town. The New town, under the name of Mi- 
sitra, at some distance towards the west, is sometimes 
erroneously confounded with Sparta. About midway 
up the Laconic gulf, Gythium served as the port to the 
city of Sparta; and is now known by the name of Colo- 
Kylhia, which it has communicated to the gulf.— The 
■worship of Apollo gave some lustre to Amyclx^ not far 
from Sparta, towards the south. — On the coast of the 
Argolic gulf the most remarkable place is Ejiidaurus, 
with the surname of Liinera, the site of which is now 
called Malvasia-Vecchia, as being in the vicinity of Na- 
poli of Malvasia, a strong place on an insulated rock. — 
The promontory o^ Malea^ which terminates this coast, 
retains the name of Malio, although otherwise called 
Sant*-Angelo. Cythera, now called Cerigo, an isle con- 
secrated peculiarly to Venus, lies off this promontory. 

The Txnarium Froniontorium, which is the land of the 
Peloponnesus the most advanced towards the south, is 
now named Metapan, from the Greek word metd/ion, 
which signifies a front. It is formed by a great moun- 
tain, whose name was Taygetus, and which was prolong- 
ed towards the north till it joined the mountains of Ar- 
cadia. It is inhabited by a particular nation, who derive 
their name Mainote from a casile called Maina, situated 
on the western acclivity; but it does not appear that they 
ever extended their name over all Laconia, as expressed, 
in the modern maps. Several places, for the most part 
maritime, having been detached from the Lacedemoni- 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 131 

S«CT. XII. GR^CIA. 

an government, and enfranchised by Augustus, were 
hence distinguished by the denomination of Elouthero' 
Lacones, or the free Lacons. 

Messenia. Messenia is situated at the end and along 
the sides of the gulf which was thence called Messenia- 
cus; and beyond this gulf it is bounded by the Ionian 
Sea, — Messene, from which the country received its 
name, is distant from the coast towards the confines of 
Arcadia. Its ruins are called in the country Mavra-ma- 
tia, or the Black Eyes, according to the signification at- 
tached to it; and the mount Ithome., which served it as a 
citadel, is named Vulcano. — Beyond the promontory of 
Acriias.) now Capo Gallo, which terminates the gulf, the 
(Enusstt isles are Sapienza and Cabrera, in sight of iVfe- 
f/tone, or Modon; and Navarin has taken the position of 
Pijlus. The city of the same name, however, in Thu- 
cydides, and whose port was covered by a little isle na- 
med S/ihacleria, in which the Athenians invested a par- 
ty of Spartans, does not agree with this position; but 
with that whereof the modern name is Zonchio, other- 
wise Avaranio-Vecchio; which last form appears to be 
derived from Era7ia, mentioned in antiquity, — Cyfiaris- 
sus corresponds with a place now called Arcadia; and 
the sea making an opening in the land, in this part, suf- 
ficiently discernible, was called Cyfiarissus Sinus. — The 
river JVeda, whose source is in Arcadia, terminates 
Messenia. Towards the banks of this river, the fortress 
of Ira, which was the last place held by the Messenians 
against their implacable enemies the Lacedemonians, 
should not be forgotten. 

Elis. Elis, extending along the Ionian Sea to the 
1 rontiers of Achaia, is bounded by Arcadia towards the 



132 EUROPE. CHAP. I. 



east. — Its southern part contiguous to Mesaenia, was 
distinguished by the name of Triphylia; and in this can- 
ton was a place of the name of Pylus, which disputed 
with that of Messenia the honour of having belonged to 
old Nestor J antiquity itself being not decided on this ar- 
ticle — Olymfiia^ whose name is distinguished by the 
mo-st celebrated games performed in Greece, was seat- 
ed on the left bank of the yllfiheus, at some distance from 
its mouth; while Pisa was opposite on the other. The 
reader perhaps would not imagine that we are still un- 
certain of the identity of a position so celebrated as 
Olympia; and that it is only by a mere presumption, that 
what we find under the name of Rofeo, by alteration 
from Alfeo, represents it. — Elis, which gave its name 
to this part of the Peloponnesus, and which was invested 
with the prerogative of presiding at the the Olympic 
games, was situated in the most spacious canton of the 
country, on a river of the same name with the Pcneun 
of Thessaly, though much inferior to it in magnitude. 
It is thought a place named Gastonni occupies the site 
of this city. — There is still another place named Pylus, 
further advanced in the country than Elis. But on the 
sea from which Elis was distant, Cijllene, now a place 
uninhabited under the name of Chiarenza, was a port of 
the Elians. — A promontory named C/ielonites, now Ca- 
bo Torneso, is the most advanced point of the Pelopon- 
nesus towards the west, and which a channel of the sea 
separates from Zc«>z;Ams,. or the isle of Zante.— Two 
shoals rather than isles, to the south of Zante, are the 
iitrofihades, which the poets have peopled with harpies, ' 
and whose modern name is Strivali. , 

Arcadia. There remains to be described a country 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 133 

SECT. XII. GR^CIA. 

which, under the name oi Arcadia., having no communi- 
cation with the sea, was contiguous, in some part of its 
limits, to every other state in the Peloponnesus. The 
nature of the country, environed by mountains, and fit 
for the feeding of cattle, had attached its inhabitants to a 
pastoral life: and the shepherds of Arcadia., and of 
mount Manalus in particular, are celebrated by the po- 
ets. — To those who entered this country on the side of 
Argoiis. Muniinea was the first city that presented it- 
self; and il is illustrated by a victory gained over the 
Lacedemonians, which cost Epan\inondas his life. It is 
thought that this city is succeeded by thai oi riapoliz- 
za. — In approaching the frontier of Achaia^ and of 
mount Cyllcne^ where it is pretended that Mercury was 
born, Pheneos discovers itself in the name of Phonia.— 
Megalopolis, oi the great city, constructed by the advice 
of Epaniinondas, as a barrier to Arcadia on the confines 
of Lac( nid, and on a river named Helisson, which joins 
the Alpheus, corresponds in these circumstances with 
the modern posiiion of Leonardi. 

CRETA Et CrCLADAE IhTSULAE, 

Candia and the Cyclades. 
Creta. The island of Crete, which nothing could 
render more illustrious in antiquity than ha\ing given 
birth to Jupiter, retains its name under the form of Icri- 
li, as the I'urks pronounce it. The application of the 
name of the capital, which is Candia, to the island itself 
appears to have arisen from the Venetians. 

This island extends in length from west to east, form- 
ing two promontories; on one side Criii-Metofion., which 
signifies the ram'b front, now simply Crio; the other 
Samonium, vulgarly Salamone. Another promontory, 



134 EUROPE. CHAP. I. -^ 



GRiECIA. 8ECT. XII. 

which advances towards the north, and is called Spada, 
was heretofore named Cimarus. Among the n^ountains 
which reign throughout the island, Ida^ where it is pre- 
tended that Jupiter was nursed in his infancy, elevates ; 
itself in the centre of the country. — Cnossus, or Gnossus, . 
Gortyna, and Cydonia, were the three principal cities of 
Crete. The first, at some distance from the northern 
shore, and which is said to have been the residence of 
Minos, has left no vestiges that are known. Candia, 
less remote towards the east than was Cnossus^ is a new 
city; and which had its commencement by being a post 
of the Saracens in the ninth century. The ruins of Gor- 
tyna are better known in receding from Candia towards 
the south, on a little river named Lethaus^ at no great 
distance from the ports which this city has upon the 
southern coast. Subterranean passages in its environs 
seem to represent a daedalus or labyrinth, which one is 
curious to find in this country. 

Cyclad^ Insula. It is said that the isles called Cy- 
clades, from the Greek term Kudos, owe the name to 
their encircling Delos; but it may more plausibly be as- 
cribed to the circumstance of their being collected in 
the same part of the Mgean Sea, adjacent to Greece. 
It is proper to add, moreover, that the name of Archi- 
pelago, by which we now call this sea, is no other thana 
an alteration of that of Egiopelago, according to the3 
form of the Greek, very far from being an expiessionof 
pre-eminence in relation to other seas. — After having .j 
doubled the Malean promontory of the Peloponnesus,! 
the first isle that presents itself, and a considerable One *' 
among the Cyclades, is Melos.ot Milo: Cimolus is adja- 
cent, and has taken the name of Argentiera, though that 



CHAP. I. EUROPE. 155 

SECT. XII. GR.ffiCIA. 

of Kimoli is still known. Sifihnus is Siphanto; Serifihus 
Serpho; and Cythnus has changed this name for that of 
Thermia. Ceos, now Zia, is most adjacent to the Su- 
nium promontory, and more considerable in magnitude 
than either of the three precedent. Andros, or Andro, 
lies oflp the southern extremity of Eubcea, pointing in 
the same direction; and Tenos, or Tina, which seems to 
have been a. prolongation of the land, is only separated 
by a narrow channel from the point of Andros, having 
Stjros, or Syra, on the western side. — We come now 
to the famous JDelos, which the opinion of its having 
produced Latona, Apollo, and Diana, had exalted into 
such high veneration, that it became at one time the sa- 
cred deposit of the riches which Greece held in reserve, 
and acquired the enjoyment of entire immunities with 
regard to commerce. This spot of land, about three 
miles in length, and less than a mile in breadth, exhibits 
now but a hill of ruins: and joining it to R/ienea, which 
is very near, the two isles are called Sdiii.— Afz/conws, 
or Myconi, is also very near Delos, on the other side, or 
that of the east. — Hence, inclining to the south, JVaxos, 
the greatest of the Cyclades, fertile in wines, and 
where Bacchus was honoured with a particular worship, 
is called Naxia — Faros, whose white marble was in high 
esteem, is adjacent towards the west; and a neighbour- 
ing isle, called Anii-Paros, was named Oliarus. 4mor- 

gus rettiins the name of Amorgo. The name los is pro- 
nounced Nio; Sicinus and Pholegandrus^ Sikino and Po- 
licandro, are of little note — Thera hasacquiied a name 
by the foundation of Cyrene in Libya. A vcicano has 
very much dtmiaged tiiis island, whose modern denomi- 
nation is Sanioiin. dnafihei^ Nunphio; and AstyfiaUa^ 



136 EUROPE. CHAP. J- 



Stanpalia, may be classed among the Cyclades, as the 
remotest towards the east. - 

The S/iorades, which are beyond, belong to Asia, 
and,|do not enter into our present division.— But we 
must not omit an isle separated from the rest by the in- 
tervention of Euboea, Scyros, ^hich the banishment of 
Theseus, and the temporary dwelling of Achilles, ser- 
ved to illustrate, and which preserves the name of Ski- 
ro» — We defer speaking of Lemnos, as being much 
more remote, and in the parallel of Troy, but which will 
become an article in treating of the next continent. 



CHAPTER II. 
ASIA. 



SECTION FIRST. 

ASIA PROPRIA, 
NOW ASIA MINOR. 



IT must be preinised that antiquity knew no distinc- 
tion of country under the name oi Asia Minor; though 
there be found sometimes in the ancient writers, Asia 
on this side of Mount Taurus and the river Halys, dis- 
tinguished from that which is beijond. But to comprise 
what we propose under the present title, we must ad- 
vance eastward to the Eufihrates, follow the shore of 
the Euxim northward to Colchis, and the shore of the 
interior sea or Mediterranean to the limits of Syria.-— ^ 
the frequent revolutions that the countries of Asia have 
experienced, attended with occasional contractions and 
expansions of their limits, render it impossible to treat 
of those limits with precision. 

Two grand diaceses, or departments, under the em- 
perors of the east, in the fourth century, divided this 
"Asia, by the names of Jsiana and Fontica, under the 
two metropolitan sees of Efihesus and Casarea of Cap- 
padocia. But this division has no affinity with any dis- 
tribution in the ages of antiquity; nor,does it preserve 
any traces at present. Asiana occupied all the shore of 
the Mediterranean, Fontica that of the Black sea; and a 
line drawn obliquely from the Propontis made the sepa- 
ration. 

N 



138 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. I. 

Endeavouring to apply method to the distribution of 
the divers countries which compose Asia Minor, we 
find them disposed in such a manner as to be divisable 
into THREE classes: one towards the north, along the 
Euxine^ one towards the south, along the Mediterrane- 
an, separated from the precedent by a middle class, 
which extended from the JEgean Sea to the Eujihrates. 
Each of these classes, or assemblages, is composed of 
FOUR principal countries. Under the first or north- 
ern, are ranged Mysta, Bit/iynia, Fa/i/ilagoJiia^And Poti- 
tusi in the second or intermediate, Lydta, Phrygia, 
Gallatia, and Cafifiadocia. The third or southern con- 
sists of Caria, Lycia, Pamfihyliaj and Cilicia. Conse- 
quently the following detail will be divided into three 
heads, each bearing the title of the countries com- 
prised therein. And some portions of territory which da 
appear in this arrangement, shall be made known by 
their connexion with some individual province: thus Io- 
nia will appear with Lydta; Lycaonia with Phrygia;Pi 
sidia with Pamfihylia; and Jrmenia Minor with Cafijui- 
docia. 

Mr SI Ay BlTnrNIA, PAPHLACONIA, PONfUS* 

Mysia. Mysia is adjacent to the Projiontia on the 
north, and to the JEgean Sea on the west: it is bounded 



* The civil divisions of Asia Minor of the present day cor- 
respond so illy, and are so few comparatively with those of an- 
tiquity, that we must be contented with stating in the way of 
note, that this country is now divided into three provinces of 
the Turkish empire. One called Natolia, or rather Anato- 
lia, which occupies the -western part, extending over its whole 
width; while the other two, called Amasia, on the Black sea. 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 139 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

by Biihynia on the east, and on the south by Lydia. We 
have seen that the Mysi owed their origin to the Maesi, 
natives of Thrace in the vicinity of the Ister. The 
nauje of Helesfiontiis was given to the greatest part 
of Mysi A, on forming it into a province in a poste- 
rior age — It is well known that Helles-fiontus is the 
channel which conducts from the iEgean Sea to the Pro- 
pontis, and is now called the strait of the Dardanelles — 
Nothing is so much celebrated in this country as the 
ancient Troass the kingdom of Priam. Troja or Troy^ 
named otherwise Ilium^ having been destroyed by the 
Greeks, rose again from its ashes, to take a position near- 
er to the sea. at the mouth of the Scamander, or Xan- 
thus, below the junction of the Simois. What are com- 
monly regarded as the ruins of Troy, under the name of 
Eski-Stamboul, or Old Constantinople, are the frag- 
ments of another city, which received from Lysiraa- 
chus, one of the successors of Alexander, the name of 
Alexandria, to which the surname of 7Voas was also ad- 
ded, and under the Romans this city had considerable 
immuuiiies, from the pretension of the Romans to be of 
Trojan origin. — A city called Dardanus, that communi- 
cated the Uiime of Dardania to a part of Troas which 
should be that adjacent to the strait, does not now exist; 
although the name of Dardanelles is evidently derived 
from it. — Here is observed a distinction betAveen the old 
castles and the new; these being placed at the entrance 
of the strait, those higher up; and both constructed by 
Mahommed IV, in the year 1659. These old castles 



and Caramania, on the Levant, occupy the residue, east- 
ward, to the Euphrates. 



140 ASIA. CHAP, n 



ASIA MINOR. 



do not, as is ordinarily supposed, represent the positions 
of Abydus and Sestus; the One in Asia, the other in Eu- 
rope. Mydosy which is not precisely opposite to Sestoa, 
exhibits now but a heap of ruins, in a point named Na- 
gara. The width of the strait a little above, and nearer 
to Sestus, is not more than 375 toises. It was in this 
place, the most contracted, that Xerxes laid a bridge 
for the passage of his immense army: and as this bridge 
had seven stadia of length, according to the testimony 
of Herodotus, it follows that these stadia are the short- 
est of the three measures under the same denomina- 
tion. — On the farther side of a narrow channel, which 
separates a spacious insulated land, was Cyzicus, which 
held a rank among the principal cities of Asia, sus- 
tained a siege against all the forces of Mithridates. It 
had the dignity of a metropolis in the province that has 
been mentioned under the name of Hellesfiontus; and 
ruins of it still preserve its name. But its channel, which 
numerous bridges covered heretofore, is now filled up 
with rubbish. — Among many adjacent isles Proconne- 
sus, the only one which shall be mentioned here, owes 
its present name of Marmora to the marble which dis- 
tinguished it in antiquity; and this name is also commu- 
nicated to the Propontis; it being commonly called the 
Sea of Marmora. — In our progress we find the Ji/iyn- 
dacus: and as this terminates Mysia on the side of Bithy- 
nia, we must return to Troy. — Before the Alexandria 
of Troas lies the small isle of I'enedoa, which still re- 
tains its name — The coast of the continent, tending to- 
Avards the east, conducts into a gulf to ^dramytfium, 
whose name is more purely preserved in Adramilti than 
under the vulgar form of Landemitre. This coast, and 



CHAP. n. ASIA. 141 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

that which succeeds towards the south, were occupied 
after the ruin of Troy, by ^olian Greeks; and the 
name of JEolus was given to a part of Mysia, extending 
hence to Lydia and the river Her7nus. — At the mouth 
of the Caicus is recognized the position of JElxa, which 
was the port of Fergamus, and now called lalea. Pet-- 
gcanus was the capital of a kingdom, which the Romans 
aggrandized considerably in favour of the king Eume- 
nes, after the defeat of Antiochus the Great, king of Sy- 
ria; and this city, which, with its kingdom, was bc- 
<iueathed to them by Attalus, its last king, subsists in 
tlie name of Bergamo. — A promontory named Cana, 
now Coloni, very near the eastern point of Lesbos, is ac- 
companied with little islands called Jrginii&sa; which 
merit notice as they became the scene of a great naval 
victory of the Athenians over the Lacedemonians. — 
Lesbos, whose oblique position between the north and 
east, covers all the space between the promontories Lec- 
tiim and Cana, is one of the largest islands in the Jigean 
Sea. lis present name of Mytilin is from Mytilene^ 
which is described in antiquity as a delightful abode, 
and distinguished by the cultivation of literature. This 
city, which subsists under the name of Mytilini, is enno- 
bled by the birth of Sappho, whose fame has survived 
her poems. — Methymna, which yielded to Mytilene 
alone, existed in a place whose modern name is Porto- 
Petera. — The small islands enclosed between this coast 
and the shore of iEolis, and which, from the epithet of 
Hecatus given to Apollo, were called Hecaton-nesi, are 
now Musco-nisi, or the Isles of Mice. But from the 
promontory of Lesbos, the most advanced in the ^gean 
N 2 



142 ASIA. CKAP. n. 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. I. 

Sea, and to which the name of Sigrium is continued in 
Sigri, we shall take a view of Lemnos., which, as being 
nearer to Asia than to any land in Europe, can no where 
be better described than in this place. Of two cities 
which it possessed, Myfirina and Htphestia^ the first is 
Palio-castro, or the Old Castle, on a point turned to- 
wards the north-west, which is remarked by the anci- 
ents to receive the shadow of Mount Athos at the lime 
of the winter solstice. 

What v/e have hitherto seen of Mysia regards only 
the part bordering on the sea: it is proper also to be ac- 
quainted with some principal places in the interior coun- 
try. — Scepsis was a considerable city in Troas; and from 
which it is remarkable that the writings of Aristotle 
came to light again, much damaged by having been long 
buried in the earth. It is to Strabo that we are indebted 
for this anecdote, and also for information concerning 
the succeeding fortune of these writings. — The country 
which envelops the bottom of the Adramytlian gulf was 
called Cilicia, and portioned between two cities, Thebc 
and Lyrnessus, of whose present state and situation we 
have no knowledge. 

BiTiiYNiA. This country was named JBebryda, be- 
fore a people who are said to have issued from Thrace 
gave it the name of Bic/iynia. There is, moreover, ob- 
served a distinction between the Thyni any Bithyni^ al- 
though both were reputed of Thracian origin. Depart- 
ing from the R/njnclacus,we shall extend Bilhynia to the 
river Partheniiis; observing that there was a time when 
the dependencies of Fo7itus, extending to Htraclea^ con- 
fined Bithyrda within narrower bounds; and remarking 
also, that under the lower empire Bithynia was no long- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 143 



ASIA MINOR. 



er the name of a province, its principal part in ihe vici- 
nity of the Propontis having assumed that of Poniica. 

OltjmJutSt which is one of the great mountains of 
Asia, and whose name is still used, caused the part bor- 
dering on Mysia to be called Olymtiena. — Prusa^ at the 
foot of this mountain towards the north, is one of the 
principal cities of Bithynia, and from which a race of 
kings were called the Prusias. This city, afterwards 
signalized by the residence of the Ottoman sultans, be- 
fore the taking of Constantinople, still preserves its 
hame, although the Turks by their pronunciation change 
the P into iS, and refusing to begin a word with two 
consonants, call it Bursa. — Leaving Mount Olympus, we 
find Nicaa., situated at the extremity of a lake called As' 
cavius. The renown which this city acquired by a ge- 
neral council that assembled there, under Constantine, 
to define the orthodox faith, is universal through Chris- 
tendom. It preserves its name with the preposition of 
place prefixed in the form of Is-Nick: as if we should 
say, " 10 Mcaa,*' — At the head of the greater gulf which 
the Propontis forms, Mcoinedia is likewise known in Is- 
Nikmid. This city owed its name to one of the first 
kings of Bithynia, and held the first rank in the country 
under their dynasty; it was afterwards distinguished as 
the residence of many emperors of the East. — Inclining 
towards the Bosphorus, we remark at Lidyssa, the tomb 
of Hannibal, who in the last years of his life found an 
asylum in Bithynia; and this place appears to be that 
named Gebise. — Pantichium is found in Piintichi; and 
on the same parallel are little isles, which are thought 
to be those named Demonnesi^ or the Isles of Genii, and 
now called the Isles of Princes, for having been a place 



144 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



of exile appropriated to persons of that rank. — Chalcc' 
don was called the City of the Blind, in derision of its 
Greek founders, for overlooking the more advantageous 
' situation of Byzantium. A council against the Eutychi- 
an heresy in the middle of the fifth century has illustra- 
ted Chalcedony vi'hich has taken under the Turks the 
name of Kadi-keui, or the burgh of the Kadi. — It is 
liere that the Propontis begins to contract itself to form 
the Bosphorus, which becomes still narrower at ChrynO' 
polisi the modern Scutari, directly opposite the point that 
Byzantium occupied. It must be observed, that this 
Bosphorus has its old and new castles, as well as the 
strait of the Dardanelles. And at some distance within 
its aperture, called by the Turks Bogas, where the new 
castles now stand, is the site of a temple consecrated to 
Jupiter Uriusy or the Dispenser of favourable winds; and 
which is now named loron. — The powerful maritime 
Greek city oi Heraclea with the surname oi Pontica, is 
evidently that subsisting under the name of Erekli. 
The gnlf at the head of which this city is situated is co- 
vered by a point of land, in the figure of a peninsula, cal- 
led jicherusia; and it was pretended that Hercules, who 
gave the name to this city, dragged Cerberus from hell 
through a cavern in this promontory. The nation of 
Mariandyni, who occupied the country, were not defini- 
tively distinguished from the Bithyni. Under the lower 
empire, this part of Bithynia adjacent to Paphlagonia 

composed a separate province named Honorias In this 

canton, Bithyniujn^ which bore also the name of Claudia- 
Jiolisy was the metropolis of Honorius, and was disho- 
noured by the birth of AntinoUs, so well known as the 



i 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 145 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

favourite of Adrian. Its position seems to be that of the 
modern town of Bastan. 

Paphlagonia. It extends from the river Parthenius^ 
which preserves the name of Partheni, to the river /fa- 
lys before mentioned. Adjacent to the Euxine on the 
north, it is contiguous on the south to Gaiacia. Till the 
time of the Trojan war this country was occupied by the 
Henefi, who are pretended to have afterwards passed in- 
to Italy, in confounding their name with that of the Te- 
neti. 

To enter into a detail of this country, we must first 
recount its maritime cities. Atnantris, situated advan- 
tageously in a peninsula, bore the name of the niece of 
the last king of Persia of the name of Darius, whom ^ 
Greek, tyrant of Heraclea-Pontica^ had married; the 
term tyrant being peculiarly applied in antiquity to an 
usurper of the sovereignty of a free state.-— An ancient 
city called Sesamus, to which this princess subjected 
many other cities in its environs, also assumed her name, 
which it still preserves under the form of Amasreh.-— 
But the most celebrated of the cities adjacent to the sea 
was Sinofie, naturally strong by its situation in a narrow 
isthmus of a peninsula, which afforded it two ports. In- 
considerable however in remote antiquity, this city owed 
its aggrandizement to a Milesian colony, before it fell 
under the domination of the kings of Pontus, who made 
it their ordinary residence. It preserves its name under 
the form of Sinub. 

In the interior of Paphlagonia there is found no po- 
sition which will better represent Germanicofiolis than 
that of Kastamoni, which v?as seized from its native 
prince by Mahommed II. — Pomfieiofiolia had mines of 



146 ASIA. CHAP.n.*^ 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. I. 

Sandal ac cr orpiatent, the foliations of wliich were 
deeuHid poisonous. — There is an ambiguity concerning 
the limits of Pi>phlagonia and Galatia. Gangra was the 
metropolis of the former province under the lower em- 
pire; yet the local position of this city, and the circum- 
stance of its having been the residence of a Galatian 
prince, as king Dejoratus. seem to favour the claim of 
Galatia during the ages of antiquity. 

PoNTUs. Pontun was a dismemberment from Cafi' 
fiadocia., as a separate sairtipy under the kings of Persia, 
till it was erected into a kingdom about 300 years before 
the Christian sera. The name oi LeucO'Syri, or White 
Syrians, which was given to the Cappadocians, extended 
to a people who inhabited Pontus: and it is plainly seen 
that the term Pontus distinguishes the maritime people 
from those who dwelt in the Mediterranean country.— 
This great space, extending to Colchis^ formed under 
the Roman empire two provinces: the one encroaching 
on Pafihlagonia on the side of Sinofie, was distinguished 
by the term Prima, and afterwards by the name of He- 
lenofiontuss from Helen, mother of Constaniine; the 
other was called Pontus Polemoniacua, from the name of 
Poifenion, which had been that of a race of kings; the 
last of which made a foimal cession of his state to Nero. 

Leaving the njouths of the Halys, the shore of the 
sea conducts to ^wzaws, a (ireek city, but which, subject- 
ed in the sequel to the kings of Pontus, was aggrandized 
by Mifhridates with a qtiarter called from the surname 
he bore, Eufmtona, that is Kind Father; and Samsoun, 
as it is now called, preserves the ancient site. The sea 
here fortsis a kind of gulf, which from the name of Ami- 
sus was called Jmiaeus ^inus; and Asia, being consider- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 147 



ASIA MINOR, 



ably contracted between this gulf and the coast of Cili- 
cia by Tarsus, was regarded as a peninsula by some au- 
thors of antiquity. 

Ascending from the sea through the plain country, 
which was called Phanarcea^ by the course of the Iris, 
we arrive at Amasea, the most considerable of the cities 
of Pontus; and which enjoyed the dignity of metropolis 
in the first of these provinces, or the Helmofiontus . 
This city, which was also distinguished by the birth of 
the geographer Strabo, still flourishes with the name of 
Amasieh. — A city at the confluence of the Lycus, begun 
by Mithridates under the name Eufiatoria, and whicli 
received from Pompey, who finished it, the name of 
Magnofiolis, appears to be that now called Tchenikeh. — = 
Phazemon and Pimolis, situated between Amasea and 
the frontier of Paphlagonia, and which gave to their re- 
spective districts the names of Phazamonitis and PiinO' 
lisenai appear to preserve their positions in Merzifoun 
and Osmangik. — Zela, which a victory of Csesar over 
Pharnaces, son of Mithridate*, has illustrated, and which 
an establishment of the priesthood of Anaitis, a Persian 
divinity, rendered considerable, retains the name of Ze- 
leh. — Of two cities named Comana, and both endowed 
with a grand chapter or college of priests, in honour of 
Bellona, this one was distinguished by the surname of 
Pontica; the other being comprised in Cappadocia. — It 
must be observed that all this part of Pontus is envelop- 
ed towards the south, and separated from Cappadocia, 
by a great chain of mountains, taking difilerent names 
in its extent. 

To Phanaraea succeeds Themiscyra., whose fields, tra- 
versed by the river T/iermodon,yfere famous for being the 



I 

148 ASIA. CHAP. II, '■ 



ASIA MINOR. 



dwelling atti'ibutedtothe Amazons, This country is inha- 
bited by a people almost savage, named Djanik. — Polemc- 
nium may have owed this name to the first Polemon, who 
was established king of this country by Marc Antony. This 
city, adjacent to the promontory of Phadisana^ appears 
to derive therefrom its modern name of Vatista, where 
the river Sidenus meets the sea, after having given the 
name of Sidena to the district which it traverses. — Ce- 
rasHs is a city existing under the name of Keresoun: 
if we may credit an historian, it was from Cerasus that 
Lucullus, in his war with Mithridates, brought into Eu- 
rope a fiuit tree hitherto unknown, which was thence 
called cerasum, or cherry. — TrafiezHs, a very celebrated 
Greek city, apparently owed its name lo the regular ge- 
ometrical figure of that denomination which its walls as- 
sumed, on a point of land projected in the sea. It was 
the residence of a prince of the race of Comnenes, when 
it fell, in the reign of Mahommed II, under the domi- 
nation of the Turks, who, Recording to their pronuncia- 
tion in such cases, call it Tarembezoun or Trebisond ■ 

The river named Bathys., or the Deep, which appears 
also under the name of ^cam/iis, now Batheun, separates 
Pontus from Colcliis. 

Advancing from Trebisond into the interior country, a 
place given on a Roman way under the name of Bylte^raay 
correspond with that which from its mines the Turks 
call Gumish-kaneh, or the House of Silver. — The name 
of TehCii, in this canton, discloses that of Teches, from 
"which the ten thousand Greeks had the first view of the 
sea in their memorable retreat. — A chain of mountains, 
by which the Euphrates seems constrained to take a 
southern course, were named Scydiases; and described 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 143 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

US rugged and inaccessible. For the same quality of ex- 
treme asperity they are now distinguished by the name 
of Aggidag, or the Bitter Mountain. — Different names 
distinguish the people in the vicinity of the sea. The 
Mosynaci, who imprinted spots on their skins, derived 
thcirname from the form of their habitations, which were 
towers built of wood. There is mention, in Xenophon's 
retreat, of the Dryla as adjacent to Trebisond. These na- 
tions received the general name of C/ialybes, from being 
occupied in the forging of iron. They are mentioned by 
Strabo under the name of C/ialdceij and all this country, 
distributed into deep vallies and precipitate mountains, 
is still called Keldir. The character of the people cor- 
responded with the face of the country as above descri- 
bed; which was composed of Id^ejita-cometa, or sevea 
communities. 

LTDIJ, PIIRTGIA, CALAT'IA, C4PPAD0CIA. 

Lydia et Ionia. We now treat of what fills the in- 
termediate space between the northern part which has 
preceded, and the southern which is to follow. On this 
space, which should conduct us from the shoies of the 
JEgean Sea to the banks of the Euphrates^ Lydia is the 
first country, in proceeding thus from west to east. It 
is bounded by Mysia on the north, Phrygia on the east, 
and Caria on the south. The name of Mmonia was also 
common to it: but leaving equivocal distinctions, we 
may affirm that the Lydi and Maeones were the same 
nation. The borders of the sea having been occupied 
by Ionian colonies, about 900 years before the Christian 
sera, took the name of lonia^ whose maritime situation 
will necessarily precede in our detail the interior of Zy» 
dia. O 



150 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



ASIA MINOR. 



JSji/ieszis, the most illustrious city of Asia, was found* 
ed by a son of Codrus, king of Athens; was adorned with 
a superb temple, constructed by common contribution 
of the Asiatic citiesj and was the residence of a Roman 
proconsul} whose jurisdiction respected a province of 
great extent, under the name oi ^sia» It is now a mass 
of ruins, under the name of Aiosoluc, which is an altera- 
tion of Agio-Theologos, or Saint Theologian; an epi- 
thet which the modern Greeks have given to St. John, 
founder of the church of this city. Its position is at 
some distance from the sea, and from the mouth of ilie 
river Caysirus, called by the Turks Kitchik Meinder, 
or the little Meander. — S?nyrna, which did not enter in» 
to the association of the Ionic cities lill the establishment 
had been some time formed, took its name from an 
Amazon. This city, which disputed with several others 
the honour of giving birth to Homer, is well known to br 
the greatest emporium of commerce in that part of the 
Ottoman empire, it preserves its name in the form of l,s« 
mir, which the Turks have thus altered to avoid the com- 
bination of the two initial consonants, the pronunciatioii 
of which, fiom their organs being inveterate in contra- 
ry habits, they find difficult to compass. — P/iocaa, found- 
ed by Athenians, was the remotest of the Ionic cities 
towards JEolis. We know that Phocaa was the parent 
of Marseilles, by an emigraiion of its inhabitants from the 
oppression of one of the generals of Cyrus, named Har- 
pagus. The name of Fochia remains to its ancient site, 
although a new town of the sanie name is a little distant 
from it, towards the gulf of Smyrna. — Cu?na, or Cyme^ 
which follows, was the most powerful of the iEolic co- 
lonies, at the head of a gulf called Cunixus Sinus; and 
there are vestiges of this city in a place called Nemourt. 



CHAP. 11. ASIA. 151 



ASIA MINOR. 



— Returning towards Smyrna, to enter a great peninsula 
which the Smyrneus Sinus contributes to form, Clazome- 
ne, an Ionic city, occupied a distinct peninsula, projected 
from the greater; and a place named Vourla has succeed- 
ed in the neighbourhood. — From this peninsuhi the isle 
of C/nos, or Scio, is only separated by a channel; and the 
city of the same naine with the island was in the num- 
ber of the Ionic league. This island, which is well 
known to be one of the ruost sp^icious of the Mgcan Sea, 
or Archipelago, is celebrated lor its wines as niuch litihis 
day as it was heretofore. — Rein rning towards Ephesus we 
must pass belovr its position to observe, that what is now 
called Scala Nova had heretofore a name conformable 
in that oi JVeapolis, or the New City. The mount My- 
cale which presses upon. the shore is remarkable in his- 
tory for the entire defeat of the great armament by {iea 
and land of Xerxes, when he was returning from his 
unsuccessful expedition against Greece. — Priene^'dn Io- 
nic city, and a place consecrated by religious festivals, 
named Pan-ionium, as being common to the whole Ioni- 
an confederation, were at the foot of this mountain, 
which was only separated by a narrow channel from Sa- 
mos. This island, still known under the same name, 
among the principal of the JEgean Sea, was peopled by 
Carians before it became Ionian. Juno was here ho- 
noured with a particular worship. — The island of /cc?7'c, 
which is not far distant towards the west, owed its name 
to Icarus, son of Dedalus, who also con.municated the 
name of Icarium Mare to the sea wht-re lie was lost. 
After having been peopled, this island was left desert in 
the time of Strabo, as it is at this day, under- the name of 
_>icaria. — To omit no important maritime city of the 



152 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

AiSIA MINOR. SECT. I 

Ionic union, we should speak of Miietus, it" this city 
'.vere not rather comprised within the limits of Caria: 
and Mijus, above the mouth of the Meander, was of the 
same foundation. But we must now quit this famous 
colony to survey the interior of Lydia. 

Sardes was the capital of a kingdom which extended 
to tiie river Halys, wlien Cyrus conquered it from Crce- 
sus; and under the kings of Persia it becanie the resi- 
dence of the Satraps of Asia. It was sealed at the foot 
of Mount Tmolus, now called by the Turks Bouzdag, or 
the Cold Mountain. The river that watered this territo- 
ry was named Pactolus, which in the time of Strabo roll- 
ed no more sa?ids of gold; whence it was idly supposed 
formerly proceeded the treasures of Croesus. Sardes 
is said to be represented by a small place named Sart, 
which preserves some vestiges of antiquity. — Hyrcani- 
ana transported under the kings of Persia from the bor- 
ders of the Caspian Sea into the plain norili of the Her- 
mus, had given the name of Hyrcania to a city, which 
that now named Marmora is supposed to have replaced.— 
Magjiesia, which was surnamed Sypilia^ was situated at 
the foot of mount Syfiilus, on the left of the Hermus. 
It is near this city that Antiochus the Great was defeat- 
ed by Scipio Asiaticus; and Mugnisa, as it is now call- 
ed, having been the residence of the Ottoman Sultans, 
is still a considerable place. — Thyatria^ towards the fron- 
tier of Mysia, and which received a Macedonian colony, 
is now called Ak-hisar, or the White Castle. — In the 
plain which the Caysirus traverses, another city, under 
the modern name of lireli, appears to have been the 

M"rofiolis of Lydid In ascending the Meander to the 

limits of Lydia, Triiiolia appears to have been situate'd 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 153 

SECT. t. ASIA MINOR. 

in a place where this river receives another that come? 
out of Phrygia. — Philadelfihia^ which owed this name to a 
brother of Eumenes, king of Pergamus, was situated im- 
mediately under the extremity of a branch of Tmolus; but 
was constructed with little solidity in its edifices, as being 
extremely subject to earthquakes. These phenomena 
were most dreadful in their effects in the seventeenth 
year of the Christian sera; for then twelve of the princi- 
pal cities of Asia, particularly this and Sardes were near- 
ly destroyed. A great tract of country, which from My- 
sia extended in Phrygia, beingat all times most exposed to 
these disasters, was called Catakecaumenc^ or the Bui'nt 
Country. It must be said to the honour of Philadelphia, 
that when all the country had sunk under the Ottoman 
yoke, it still resisted, and yielded only to the efforts of 
Bajazet I, or Ilderim. The Turks call it Alah-Shehr, 
or the Beautiful City*; probably by reason of its situa- 
tion. 

Phrygia et Lycaonia. Succeeding to Lydia^ to- 
wards the east, Phrygia is one of the principal countries 
in what is called Asia Minor. The Phryges were of 
Thracian origin, according to Strabo; and their first es- 
tablishments, from the time that Gordius and Midas 
reigned over this nation, were towards the sources of 
the Sangar, which divided their territory from Bithynia, 
according to the report of the same author. It is to this 
partj although at first but of small extent compared with 



* Rather the divine city, according to tbo ceoamon interpre- 
tation of the sacramental word Mlah. 
O 2 



V 

154 ASIA, CHAP. 11. 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. t. 

its subsequent expansion, that the name of the Greater 
Plirygia is given by distinction from a Fhrygia Minor., 
which encroached on Mysia towards the Hellesfionti and 
was thus denomina ed from Phrygians who occupied 
this country after the destruction of Troy. The testi- 
mony of Strabo is explicit; and if the Trojans are called 
Phrygians by Virgil, they became so by usurpation; 
and that accidental event will not justify us in oblitera- 
ting the distinction between Mysia and Fhrygia., as pi'O- 
vinces. But by a dismemberment which the kingdom 
oi Bithynia siifiercd on the part of the Romans, and to 
the advantage of the kings of Pergamus, this part of the 
territory, which was Phrygian, assumed under these 
kings the name of E/iicteius., or Phrygia by acquisition. 
The territory which Phrygia possessed towards the 
south, and contiguous to Pisidia and Lycia, appears to 
have been called Pai-oreias, denoting it in the Greek to 
be in the vicinity of mountains. — In the subdivision of 
provinces that took place in the time of Constantine, we 
distinguish two Phrygian; one surnamed Pacatiana, ihe 
other Sciliituris; and Laodicea appears to have been me- 
tropolis in lhe^r.j^ and Synnada in the second. 

It is singular tliat, on entering upon the detail of the 
principal cities of this country, we cannot begin with 
those that belonged to its first occupants. The Galatians 
having diffused themselves in Phrygia, the canton where 
the Phrygians originally settled, decisively makes a part 
of Galalia, which forms a distinct province among those 
that divide the continent. — A city which commerce had \ 
rendered sufficiently flourishing to yield this rdvantage , 
only to Ephesus, was Afiamea.^ surnamed Cibotusj or the | 
Coffer, and situated at the confluence of the little river 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 155 

SECT. I, ASIA MINOR. 

Marsyaa and the Meander, not far from its origin. This 
city had succeeded to one more ancient, almost on the 
same site, whose name was CWa???*.— Thence we advance 
towards Synnada, whose marbles were in great estima- 
tion among the Romans, and which, as we have men- 
tioned, held the rank of metropohs in the second pro- 
vince of Phrygia. — I/isus, where a great battle deci- 
ded the fortunes of the successors of Alexander, was in 
the environs of Synnada.—-JnHocMa, surnamed ad Fisi- 
diam, thus expressing it to be on the confines of Pisi- 
dia, is frequently cited as a city of Pisidia definitively, 
and it became indeed the metropolis of that province. 
But it must be observed, that, which country embraces 
tills city is doubtful; this region being the ambiguous 
confine of Phrygia Paroreias before mentioned. The 
Turks gave to this Antioch the name of Akshehr, or 
the While City. — Thymbrium occurred in the march of 
the younger Cyrus; and there is reason to believe that 
this was the field of battle under the name of Thymbra- 
ia^ where Croesus was utterly defeated by the founder of 
the Persian monarchy: for though in the sequel of the 
recital of that event, it seems that Sardes and the Pac- 
tolus were not far distant, it cannot be supposed that the 
king of Lydia, powerfully armed as he was, delayed the 
action till the enemy came within sight of his capital. 
The part of Phrygia which remains to be described, 
longs to a particular country under the name of LycaO' 
nia. — Iconium is the principal city, and it took the 
rank of metropolis of the province. But the renown of 
Konieh, as it is now called, is principally derived from 
the circumstance of its becoming the residence of the 
Seljuldde Sultans, who reigned there during many ages, 



156 ASTA. CHAP. 11. 



ASIA MINOl 



beginning towards the close of the eleventh century. 
The country which they oppressed, called Karaman, in 
its present state of a Beglerbeglic of the Ottoman empire, 
extends from the limits of Anadoli to those of a country 
•distinguished by the name of Roum; which we shall de- 
scribe in treating of Cappadocia. — A vast plain which ex- 
tends upon the limits of Galatia, is so dry and scarce of wa- 
ter, that Strabo remarks this necessary element to be sold 
in a place called Soatra, or Sabatra. The Tutta Paltis^ 
a salt pool, mentioned by the same author, in this plain, 
is called Tuzla; a term, in the language of the Turks, 
signifying the quality of its waters. 

Galatia. It is adjacent towards the north to Bitfiy- 
nia and Fa/i/ilagG?iia. The Smigar and the Halys tra- 
verse the contiguous extremities of these provinces. 
We see in history, that about two hundred and seventy 
years before the Christian sera, a handful of Gauls, de- 
tached from a great emigration, led by Brennus, passed 
iiito Asia by crossing the Helkajiont. After having laid 
under contribution all the country on this side of mount 
Taurus, these Gauls cantoned themselves in a part of 
Phrygia, extending to the confines of Cappadocia. And, 
as there had been previous establishments formed by 
the Greeks, with whom the strangers had mingled, the 
conquered country obtained the name also of Gallo-Gra- i 
da. However, they had so well preserved the distinc- j 
tion, that their language appeared to St. Jerome, about I 
six hundred years after their migration, the same with ' 
that spoken at his time in Treves*. This nation was 

* Pinkerton, who has written professedly upon the migra- 
tiens of the parent nations, seems to prove that these Galatians 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 157" 



ASIA MINOR. 



composed of three people; the Tolisto-boii^ confining on 
Phrygia, called Epictetus; the Trocmi^ on the side of 
Cappadocia; and the Tectosages, occupying the interme- 
diate territory. Among many cotemporary princes, call- 
edjTetrarchs, who ruled in Galatia, Dejotarus, favoured 
by Pompey, and not less so by Caesar, usurped the go- 
vernment of the whole, and assumed the title of King. 
But a kingdom that Amyntas, a creature of Antony, pos- 
sessed, and which beyond Galatia, extended in Lycaonia 
and Pisidia, was re-united to the empire by Augustus, 
after the battle of Actium. As to the occurrences of 
later times, Galatia was not divided into two provinces 
before the reign of Theodosius. 

Ancyra, among the Tectosuges, is the first city of Ga- 
latia. It received many favours from Augustus; and 
Angoura, as it is now called, still preserves a magnificent 
inscription, reciting the principal circumstances of the 
life of that prince. It isin these environs that Bajazet was 
vanquished, and made prisoner by Timur. This city is 
distinguished by a much esteemed manufacture of cam- 
elots of goats'-hirir which numerous herds of these ani- 
mals furnish in this canton, inhabited by Turkmans, and 



were not originallv Gauls, but Germans, who having conquered 
a part of Gaul, were thus denominated to distinguish them from 
other Goths; as the Arabs of Mauretania are called Maures; and 
the English, Britons. He also considers the evidence of St. Je- 
rome as decisive with regard to their Germanic origin; for it is 
well known that, in the time of this father, the German was the 
popular language at Treves, as it now is. Their leaders too 
were called Lomnorius and Lotharius, names in themselves pufe-^ 
ly Gothic, though disguised under Roman terminations, *" 



158 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. I. 

named Tchourgoud-ili. — Pessinua, which appears to 
have been near the Sangar, in the country occupied by 
the Tolistoboians, was a sanctuary of the worship which 
the Phrygians rendered to the mother of the t^oiis, or 
Cybele, whose simulacrum, or idol, was transported 
from this city to Rome during the second Punic War. 
Augustus elevated Pessinus to the digniiy of metro- 
polis in second Galatia, surnamed Halularis. — Gordium 
is another place of consideration, in quality of the an- 
cient residence of the kings of this country; and its 
situation on the Sangar admits not of the doubt which 
some of the learned have suggested concerning it. It 
had declined into a very small place, called Gordiu-come, 
when it was aggrandized under the name of JuliopoHfi, in 
the reign of Augustus; and the injury that the walls of 
this city received from the course of the Sangar, was re- 
paired by Justinian. But we reluctantly confess the defi- 
ciency of actual information concerning this and the pre- 
ceding position. — Amorium was a consideralile city vfhen 
it was taken and sacked by tiie Ki-alif Matosem, in the 
year 223 of the Hegira, and in the 837th of the Chris- 
tian aera; r.n event that did not however preclude the 
mention of Amora by the Arabian geographers many 
ages after. — In following the track of a Roman way 
which from Ancyra conducts into ( ilicia, a place is 
found under the name of Gorbaga, which indicates Gor' 
bettut the lesidence of a prince whom Dejotarns put to 
death. This way leads to Tavium^ otherwise Tatna, which 
was the principal city of the Ti-ocmians^ the remotest 
of the Galatian people; and a place now called Tcho- 
roum represpnls it — The whole north side of Gala- 
tia^? covered with a chain of mountains; among which 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 159 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

Js distinguished Olymfius, where the Galatians were at- 
tacked by the Romans at the conclusion of the war with 
Antiochus; but this Olymiius is to be distinguished from 
that just mentioned in Bithynia. — The continuation ol" 
this mountain, which the Turks call Koush-Dagi, or the 
Mountain of the Bird, incloses Ganger^ and covers this 
city on the side of the north. Thus by its position it 
seems comprised within the natural limits of Galatia: 
but it nevertheless held the rank of metropolis in the 
province of Paphlagonia, the princes who possessed it 
having extended their dominion in this province. Before 
Dejotarus, a prince named INIorzcs made it his re,si» 
dence. It is by the light of modern geography that its 
identity is recognized in Kiangari. 

Cappadocia et Armenia Minor. Separated from 
Ponius by a chain of mountains, Cajijiadocia extends 
southward to Mount Taurus. We have seen that Poii- 
(us, was only distinguished from Cajijiadocia by its hav- 
ing been detached from it; that the nation was funda- 
mentally the same in one part as the other, : nd reputed 
of Syrian race; the Cappadocians being generally called 
Leuco-Syri, or ^Vhite Syrians. But that which was pro- 
perly Cappadocia, was called Ca/i/iadocia iMagna,ov Ma^ 
jor. This country was a kiiigdom of the Persian empire; 
and, at the extinction of the royal race, the Cappado- 
cians, to whom iilieity u s -ffered by the Roma.'s, jrc- 
ferred being governed by kings. It has been said of the 
► king of Capptidocia, that, though poor in money, he was 
rich in slaves; alluding tot'i.e conrtition of the peasantry 
in his allodial demesnes, which was that of the most 
miseruble vassalage. Under Tiberius this kinKdoai was 
re-united to the empire, but did not extend as a separate 



160 ASIA. CHAP. U 



ASIA MINOR. 



domain to the Eufihrate^» An union with the Armenian 
nation caused the part adjacent to the river to assume 
the name of Armenia Minor., but in a manner indeter- 
Ttiinate, and much more contracted at first than in poste- 
rior times, when by the division of Cappadocia into four 
cfl" five provinces, the name oi Armenia was extended to 
t^o of them, as will be shown in speaking of the me- 
tft)politan cities. 

Mazaca, capital of Cappadocia, in a particular canton 
called Cilicia, took the name of Casarea under Ti- 
berius, without losing its former denomination. It 
is surnamed Ad Argxum, being situated at the fof>t 
of Mount Argceus, from whose summit, it is said, both 
the Euxine and Mediterranean Seas may be seen. 
Some difference is thought to be distinguished be- 
tween the site of the ancient city of Casarea, and the 
modern one of Kaisarieh. The river Halys on the other 
side of Mount Argaus, cannot be far distant, since the 
devastation brought on the territory of C«esarea by tlie 
inundations of this river, occasioned a remission of the 
customary tribute. — Mocissus must be noticed, being 
known by this name at the time of its re-edification by 
Justinian, who made it the metropolis of the third Ca/i- 
fiadocia, giving it the name of Jusdmano/iolis, which it 
has not retained: for this place is found under the name 
of Moucious, at some distance from the passage of the 
Halys. — In the environs of a place named Bour, the ves- 
tiges of an ancient castle appear to be the fortress of 
JVora, or A''eroassus; where Eumenes, who had been se- 
cretary to Alexander, sustained a siege against the forces 
of Antigonus— A branch of the river //a/?/« issues from 
one of the gorges of Taurus, and the Sarua rushes 



CHAP. II, ASIA, 161 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

thi;pugh another, before entering Cilicia. At the sources 
of these rivers the mountain prolongs one of its chain.s 
towards the north, called Anti-Taurus^ by opposition to 
the more dominant ridge that encompasses a particulai' 
country called Caiaonia. — Two principal cities in this 
country were Tyana and Comona, The former was ele- 
vated to the dignity'of metropolis in the second Ca/i/mda- 
cla; and was remarkable for producing a celebrated pre- 
tender, named ApoUonius. The other was distinguished 
by a college devoted to the worship of Bellona or Pian;^. 
the pontiff of which was a sovereign prince, who only 
yielded in dignity to the kings of Cappadocia, The Saru^^ 
issuing from Anti-Taurus passed through this city; which 
the position of a place named E! Bostan. or the Garder)., 
appears to represent. There is no positive knowledge oi 
the site of Tyanas and it may be proper to add, that this 
is the city which appears under the name of Duna^ in 
the march of the younger Cyvus,-^Podandus preserves 
its name in Podando. Tliis place was much decried i'or 
the rudeness of its situation; it being buried among t!:e 
mountains, which here form a deiile that aflbrds a dlfli- 
cult passage from Cataonia into Cilicia."— Q^cwsh*, the 
gloomy place of exile of St. John Cbrysostom, situated 
likewise in one of the gorges of Tsurus, is named Cac- 
8on: and ihrough these defiles lay the rcites of the cru- 
sades towards Syria.— It requires more actual know^ 
ledge of the country than we possess, to indicate tlis po- 
sitions of Ana(/i?a, the residence of many kingH,~-.'rhs; 
principvil Roman camp in Mctitens, one of the gretuest 
prefectures of this country, took the form of a city un- 
der Trajfin, with the same name; and in the division gf 
P 



162 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. I. 

the lesser Armenia into two provinces, Melitcne became 
metropolis of the seco7id. Situated between the rivers 
Euphrates and Melas, it subsists in the name of Malaria. 
—We must now pass to Sebaste, which being under 
Mithridates but a castle named Cabira, became a city 
under Pompey. The name which it still keeps, and 
•which in Greek has the same signification wiih Jugus- 
ia in Latin, was given to it, in honour of Augustus, by 
the queen dowager of Polemon, king of Pontus. The 
river Halys flows in its vicinity; and JVIount Paryadrea, 
is not far distant towards the north. Sivas, as it is now 
called was the metropolis of \ht.Jirst jlrmenia; and was 
cruelly treated by Timur,who erasedits ramparts, which 
a Seljukid Sultan had erected. It is now but an incoti- 
siderable place, although the residence of a Beglerbcg. 
•whose government extends over the country disiin- 
guishtd from Karaman and Anadoli by the name ol 
Roum. This denomination, which was extended to tlit- 
whole Greek empire by the Arabian Khalifs, is now 
confined to this territory, which formed its eastern fron- 
tier, — In the vicinity of Sebaste there is mention made 
of an almost inexpugnable fortress, situated on a steep 
rock among deep valleys, and vvhere Mithridates had de- 
posited Ills principal treasures. Its name, which was 
JVotjus, is retained by the Arn)enians in the forn» of He- 
sen-Novv; but the Turks call it Kadj-hisar. — A'icopohs 
in Armenia Minor constructed by Pompey, after having 
forced Mithridates to retire to the Acilisene on the banks 
of the Euphrates, cannot be referred to any other posi«J 
tion than that of a city, whose modern name of Divrikl s 
is the same with Tt^phricc in the Byzantians, although 
Tephrice and Nicopolis be found separately mentioned. 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 163 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

by one of these authors — The fortress of Synoria, or 
Sinibra^ to which Mithridates, when vanquished, retired, 
is also known. Its modern name, pronounced by an 
Armenian, has appear!^ to be Snarvier; and there is a 
striking conformity in the circumstances of the respec- 
tive positions. — The last place on this frontier, and gar- 
risoned by a legion, was Saiala, in a position in every 
circumstance conformable with that of Arzingan. 

CARIA^ LrcJAj PAMPHrtTAy CXLICIA. 

Cahia. These countries, which remain to be in- 
spected, make the southern and maritime circuit. CariOf 
which is adjacent to the sea on the western and south- 
ern sides, cannot be more distinctly separated from Ly- 
dia than by the course of the river Meander .—-ThQ Caresj 
and their language, were esteemed barbarous by the 
Greeks who made establishments among them. They 
had inhabited isles of the JEgean Sec, and had extende4 
even to the coast of Lydia, before the arrival of the 
Ionian colonies. The Leleges^ obliged about the time 
of the Trojan war to quit a maritime canton of Troas, 
retired into Carta, where they possesed many cities. 
And that is all that can be said concerning the more re- 
mote antiquity in Carta. 

In descending to particulars, before speaking of Mi- 
letus, Mount Latmus must be mentioned, as being the 
scene of the fable of Endymion; it rises immediately 
from an opening of the sea. Miletus, which was situ- 
ated towards the entrance of this little gulf, made the 
most southern of the Ionian cities: it was distinguished 
above all other Greek cities by the number of its colo- 
nies, which peopled the shores of the Profiontis and 
Euxine, as far as the Cimmerian Bosfihorns, It may be 



164 ASIA, CHAP. II. 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. I, 

thought extraordinary that the actual state of a city, once 
so illustrious, should be unknown; for it is an erroneous 
opinion that a place named Palatsa represents it. It may 
be added, to the honour of Milems, that Thales who laid 
the foundations of philosoph^among the Greeks, to 
whom the sciences owed their nurture, was one of its ci- 
tizens.— Crossing a narrow space of country which se- 
parates the lassus Sinus from another which succeed^, 
we find Halicarjiassus, a city of Greek foundation, which 
became the residence of the kings of Caria; and which 
was ornamented with a superb tomb, erected by Arte- 
misia to king Mausolus, her husband. The birth of He- 
rodotus, the most ancient of the Greek historians, as that 
of the famous philologist and antiquary Diony:-.ius, and 
the defence made by Halicarnassus when besieged by 
Alexander, are circumstances which contribute to the 
fame of this city. On the spot that it occupies is a cas- 
tle named B(-droun, which appears to have been erected 
by the knights of Malta, whose possessions extended on 
the*boasts of the continent, as well as to the adjacent 
isles — Near a long'projected promontory named Trio- 
/liumy now Cape Crio, was the city of Cjiidun^ distin- 
guished heretofore for the devotion rendered to Venus, 
and now exhibiting but a mass of ruins. — This canton of 
Caria, having been occupied by Doricins,was named i)o- 
ris; and the sea there forms a gulf which was called Do- 
ridin Shiufi. Its contiguity to Rhodes adm.itted of the 
establishment c-f a ferry. 

All that is known of Alabanda, one of the principal ci- 
ties in the interior of Caria, is, that it was not far dis- 
tant from the Meander. — The site of Afihrodisiaa is 
found in a place named Gheira; and that of Stratonicea 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 165 



ASIA MINOR. 



in Eski-Shehr, or the Old Town. The first had the 
lank of metropolis, in the province of Caria; the second 
aijgrandized under the kings of Syria, owed its name to 
Stratonice, wife to Antiochus Soter. — Mylasa, a consid- 
erable city, where Jupiter was honoured with a particu- 
lar worship by^ie Carians, subsists under the same 
name, aUho«gh"e quarries in its vicinity have caused 
it also to be called Marmora. The city is situated at some 
distance from the sea; and its port, named Physcus, re- 
tains the name of Physco. 

But this article of Caria cannot be concluded without 
some notice of the adjacent isles of the jEgean Sea. 
The name of S/iorades is applied to tliem in generi:.!, to 
signify that they are dispersed. Pathmos, Leros, and 
Caiymna, preserve their names; with a small alteration 
in the last, which is pronounced Calmine. It is well 
known how much the circumstance of the banishment 
of St. John, the apostle of the churches of Asia, has il- 
lustrated the first of these isles, but little remarkable in 
itself. — Cos, a considerable isle off the Ceramic gulf, 
had the glory of producing Hippocrates and Apelles, 
iwo men who held the first rank in their respective fa- 
cullies. It preserves its name in the form of Stan-Co, 
where the preposition of place is recognised; but, by a 
depravation singularly gross, it is called Lango by Eu- 
ropeans. — The isle of Rhodes has a well-earned celebri- 
ty: the Rhodians signalized themselves particularly in 
the marine; and the services rendered by them to the 
Romans, in the war against the last king of Syria, pro- 
cured them extensive possessions on the continent. Lin- 
dus, Camirus, and laiysus, had preceded in this isle the 
P 2 



166 ASU. CHAP. II. 



ASIA MINOR. 



foundation of a city named Rhodus, which remounts no 
higher than the Peloponnesian war, or about four hun- 
dred years before the Christian aera. It was in vain 
that Demetrius, surnamed Poliorcetes, or the Taker of 
Cities, held it besieged for a year. Having successfully 
resisted Mohammed, II., it yield at leiiath to the efforts 
of Soliman, II., in 1522. The colossaRtatue of Apollo 
erected by the Rhodians at the entrance of their port has 
also contributed to their renown. It may be added, that 
Lindo and Camiro are still names known in the isle of 
Rhodes; — The little isle of Carpathus, now Scarpanto, 
lying in the mid channel between Rhodes and Crete, had 
given to this channel the name of Cai-Jiathhwi Mare. 

Lycia. Contained between two gulfs, Lycia is bor- 
dered by the sea on three sides; and Mountains which 
extend their branches in various directions through the 
country, cover it on the other side. It is recorded of 
the Lycii, that having ports favourable for navigation, 
they had preferred the establishment of a good adminis- 
tration to the example of their neighbours of Pamfihylia 
and Ciliciat \yho were addicted to piracy. 

At the head of the gulf which confines Lycia on the 
side of Caria, Talmissusy which was famed for very skilful 
magicians, takes a position similar to that which is given 
to a modern city named Maori. — Zant/iua, the greatest 
city of Lycia, was situated upon a river of the same 
name, at some distance from the sea; and it is evident 
that the modern name of Eksenide, in the same position, 
is only an alteration of the primitive form, — Near the 
sea, Patara (or as it is now pr(;(nounced. Patera,) was in 
possession of an oracle: between which and that of De- 
ios it was pretended that Apollo equally divided his pre- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 167 



ASIA. MINOR. 



sence, by*giving an alternate half-year to each— iVft/r« 
and Limyra are marked successively at the same dis- 
tance from the sea; and the first, elevated to the dignity 
of metropolis in the province of Lycia, retains its name 
and site. — The Sacrum Promontorium, where the coast, 
hitherto tending to the east, turns northward, being co- 
vered with three shoals called Chelidonix insula, is now 
named Cape Kelidoni. The elevation which Mount 
Taurus takes from this promontory,|has been regarded 
as its' commencement, whence it directs its ridge.— .Two 
maritime places, which served as a retreat to the pirates 
of Cilicia, and which were taken and almost destroyed 
by Servilius Isauricus, succeeded to this promontory. 
Olympus, a great city, preserves only a castle on a very 
elevated site. — That of Phaselis, to which it is thought 
a place now called Fionda corresponds, is remarkable 
for being adjacent to a passage so much contracted by a 
brow of Taurus, called Climax:, or the ladder, that Alex- 
ander could not traverse it to enter Pamphylia without 
wading through the sea. In the environs of this city, a 
ground from which fire issues, was for that reason named 
Hejihxstium or temple of Vulcan, — It must be added, that 
the north of Lycia made part of a country called MiVycs, 
which extended on the common frontier of Pisidia and 
Phrygia, in the neighbourhood of the mountains. 

Pamphtlia et Pisidia. We thus comprise, un- 
der the same title, two countries between which it would 
be difficult to determine the limits with precision. But 
what distinguishes them in a general manner is, that 
Pamphylia borders the sea, while Pisidia occupies the 
interior country. To observe a natural order, we must 
first survey the maritime part. 



168 ASIA. CHAP.ir 

ASIA MINOR. 5|^;T. I. 

The Cestrus cinducts at some distance frotn the sea 
to Perga, which took the rank of Metropolis in the pro- 
vince of P amft/iu Ha, a.nd which appears to be concealed 
under the Turkish denomination of Kara-hisar, or the 
Black Castle, in a district call Tekieh. — Ranging along 
the coast we find Side, which seems to have taken 
precedence of Perga; for, when Pamfihylia was divided 
into (wo provinces, it became metropolis of the Jirst, 
A port covered with many little isles and called Can- 
deloro, appears to correspond with this position.- '-Be- 
yond the river Melas, or the Black, the limits of Pam- 
phylia are extremely equivocal: Coracesiiun being at- 
Uibuted to Cilicia; and in another time, Sydra, Avhich 
is more remote, being givea to Pamphylia. On this 
shore there exists a place named Alanieh, seated on a 
lock that overlooks the sea, as Poraceaium is described 
ill antiquity; and although this place owes its present 
tilaie to a Seljukide Sultan, it may be esteemed more 
ancient, and the same as the Castle Ubaldo of the ma- 
rine atlases. 

Advancing towards the interior country, we find Ter- 
messusy on the intermediate limits of Pamphylia and Pi- 
sidia, situated before the defiles that gave entrance to 
the country of Mylas, which was mentioned in cenclud- 
ing the article of Lycia. It was the centre of the little 
territory of Cabalia, bounded by Lyiia and Pamphylia, 
and inhabited by the Solimi. This position appears to 
correspond with that of a place at the foot of mountains, 
whose name of Estenaz may be derived from a Greek^ 
word signifying defiles. — In the interior of Pisitlia, now 
named Hamid, Premna, a strong place where the Ro- 
mans established a colony, appears to preserve its name 



CHAP. n. ASIA. 169 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

in that of Kebrinaz, which has an ancient castle on a high 
mount. — Between this place and Sagalessus, was San- 
daliumy a fortress that no invader ever insulted. — The 
greatest city of Pisidia was Selga^ of Lacedemonian 
foundation, and which had become so powerful as to be 
able to arm twenty thousand men. It appears to e as- 
cribed to Pamphylia, in a posterior age; but the site 
which it occupied is now unknown. 

Isauria was a country adjacent to Pisidia j and the 
Isaurians were distinguished from the P'.sioians by the 
violence and rapine which they exercised on their 
neighbours. Servilius, who was charged with the con- 
duct of the war in this country, and who acquired from 
its success the name of Isauricus, destroyed their capi- 
tal called laauria; which Amyntas, of whom Galatia has 
given us occasion to speak, re-established, after having 
dislodged a partisan who in this country held Derbe and 
Lystra. The name of Darb properly denotes a gate; 
and this place may be represented by that called Alah- 
dag, at ihe passage of a high mountain. Among the 
places that are known- at this day in Isauria, Ber Shehri, 
on a lake, is the principal; and above this, a position 
near another lake preserves in the name of Kerali, that 
of Cfralis.— WQ shall see that the name of Isauria has 
become proper to a part of Cilicia. 

CiLiciA. Overlooked by the ridge of Taurus on the 
northern side, Cilicia borders the sea on the south, t© 
the limits of Syria. The Cilices are first mentioned at 
a time when the weakness of the kings of Syria, and the 
divisions in their house, permitted this nation to exer- 
cise piracy with impunity; a practice which could not 
but be agreeable to the Ptolemies, enemies to the Se- 



170 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

ASIA. MINOR. SECT. I. 

leucides, and which was not at first an object directly 
interesting to the Romans. But the predatory power, 
which extended to the maritime places as well as on 
the seas, having grown to such a height as to brave the 
Romans on the shores of Italy, Servilius Isauricus was 
sent to destroy the pirates. He, however, merely began- 
the work, which Poi^pey finished by a naval victory un- 
der Coracesi'um, and the consequent capture of this city. 
A part of Ciiicia, extremely rude and mountainous, 
was distinguished by the name of Trachea, which ex- 
presses in Greek its topical character of ruggedness; 
and this is the first that presents itself after Pamphylia. 
A conformity of the aspect of the country with that of 
Isauria, just described caused this name to pass by con- 
tinuity into this part of Cilicia, which appears thus de- 
nominated in the notices of the eastern empire. Among 
the Turks it is called Itch-il, whichsignifies an interi- 
or country. — On the coast, Seliniit occurs at the mouth 
of a river of the same name; and which, for having been 
the place where the emperor Trajan died, assumed the 
name of Trajano/iolis; but it has since retaken its primi- 
tive denomination in the form of Selenti. — At the foot 
of a steep mountain near the sea, and named Cragus, as 
that in Lycia, an Antiochia has taken the diminutive 
form of Antiocheta. — As to the inland positions. Homo- 
nada, on the confines of Isauria, in a situation very pro-, 
per for a strong fortress, retains, under the name of Er- 
menak, a castle hewn out of a rock, and less disfigured 
by tin.e or violence than most others of the same anti- 
quity.— We could wish to ascertain, with equal precisi- 
on the Mtuation of Olba, in the country named Cetis; as 



CHAP. II. ASIA. m 

SECT. I. ASIA MINOR. 

it was the see of a sacred college (founded by Ajax, sen 
of Teucer) whose pontiff was sovereign. 

From Cilicia Trachea we pass to that which being 
less rugged, was called Camftcstris^ or the Plains. The 
first place that presents itself on the shore is Corycusf 
where is mentioned a cavern or hollow, which produced 
saffron highly esteemed. This position preserves thf 
name of Curco. Not far from it a little isle named Ekn^- 
sa contained a city named Sebaste, constructed by Ai - 
chelaus king of Cappadocia, whom Agustus put in pos- 
session of Cilicia Trachea. — A little river named Lamus 
gave to this canton, which it passes through, the name 
oi Lamotris; and that of Lamuzo still subsists. Not far 
from its mouth, Soli, an ancient Greek city, was rediiced 
to an inconsiiderable number of inhabitants, when Poni- 
pcy established there the pirates who had been admitleil 
to a capitulation, causing the place to take the name tA 
Pom/ieiofiolist—'Anchiale^ at a small distance from tiir 
sea, and which owed its foundation to Sardanapalus, still 
possesses the tomb, or cenotaph rather, of this princfj 
with an inscription which makes him speak in conformity 
to the maxims of sensuality adopted by the orientals.— 
The expansion of the river Cydnus, near the sea, forms 
a port at least a mile below the city of Tarsus; which 
this river traverses, at no great distance from its source 
in Mount Taurus. This is the river where Alexander 
endangered his life in bathing, from the extreme cold- 
ness of its waters— Tlzrsws was a great and populous 
city, and so much distinguished by the cultivation of li- 
terature and philosophy, as to maintain a competition 
with Athens and Alexandria, the most celebrated schools 
of antiquity. Having fallen into the hands of the Mos» 



172 ASIA. CHAP. 11. 

ASIA MINOR. SECT. J, 

lems it became the frontier of the two empires, and re- 
ceived new fortifications from the Khalif Haroun Al- 
IJashid. It exists under the name of Tarsous, but as 
subordinate to Adana, and even comprised in the mo- 
<lern district of this city. — Adana preserves its name and 
position on the river Sams, or Seihoun, as it is now ealN 
ed. This river, after opening to itself a passage through 
Mount Taurus, and forming thereby the famous defile 
known under the name of PyU Cilicix, or the gates of 
Cilicia, renders itself into the sea where the shore re- 
tires so as to form two points called Sari Capita ov the 
Heads of Sarus.— Ascending the same river, we find 
Arfazarbus, which also bore the name of Casarea, parti- 
cularly distinguished in this country; and on the divi- 
sion of Cilicia into two provinces, under the younger 
Theodosius, this city was elevated to the rank of metro- 
polis in the second Cilicia; Tarsus preserving that digni- 
ty in the ^rst. — Germanicia is recognized in the posi" 
fion of INIarash; for we know that this city, now the 
chief place of a great government, is also called Bani- 
cia, by alteration of the ancient namej and detaching it 
from Cilicia, it has also been comprised in a province of 
Syria, called Euphratesien. — The country that we have 
just been viewing, and its environs, correspond with 
that which, in the time of the crusades, was called the 
kingdom of L<"on, from the nan^e of many Armenian 
princes; toe first of whom arrived at the regal dignity 
towards the close of the twelfth century.— Returning 
towards the eeu. Isaua, the famous scene of a great vic- 
tory of Alexander over Darius, and which gives the 
name of Jssicus Sinus to a gulf of the Mediterranean 
that penetrates deepest into the continent, retains its 



CHAP.n. ASIA. 173 

SECT, I. ASIA MINOR. 

name under the form of AYasse; and the river Finarus, 
which is in the neighbourhood, is now named Deli-sou. 
— Licofiolis, appears to owe this name to a famous vic- 
tory also; although its position, distant from the sea 
does not represent the field of battle: a place named Ke- 
nisat-asound, or the Black Church, now occupies this 
site, which retained its ancient defences when the Kha- 
lif Haroun Al-Rashid fortified it. — The torrent named 
Carsus is found in the name of Mahersi, or Ma-kersij 
and the traveller has only to cross it to find himself en- 
closed between Mount Jmanus and the sea. It is here 
that Cilicia terminates; this passage being called Syria 
Pylts, or the Gates of Syria. It concludes also our de- 
scription of this part of Asia; which, as well from the 
extent of the subject, as from the importance and cele- 
brity of the objects thai are contained in it, could not be 
treated with more brevity. 



SECTION SECOND. 
COLCHIS, IBERTA, ALBANIA, ET ARMENIA.* 

GURU, MTNGREL, IMERIfli GEORGIA, AND ARMENIA, OR 
DIAR-BEKR Br fHE ARABS, 

Colchis. This country, which the faile of the Gold- 
en Fleece, and the expedition of Jason and the Argonauts, 
have rendered famous in remote antiquity, borders the 
head of the Euxine Sea: being bounded on the east by 
Iberia, and covered by Caucasus towards the north. In 
the lime of the Lower Empire the same country was 
- ■ ' '■' ■ ' ■ " " ■' . > .J 

* This Armenia has commonly the addition of JUajor, to 
distinguish it from Armenia Minor, which belonged to Cappa- 
docia, as we have seen. Q 



174 ASIA. CHAP. U. 

COLCHIS, &C. SECT. II. 

called Lazica; and the name of Colchi appears to have 
been replaced by that of the Lazi, which anteriorly was 
only proper to a particular nation, comprised in the li- 
mits of what is now named Guria, on the southern bank 
of the Faz. That which is now known under the name 
of Mingrel, or Odisci, on the Black Sea, from the mouth 
of the Phasis ascending towards the north, is only a part 
of Colchisy as is that more inland towards the frontier 
of Georgia, and called Meriti.— Colchis is watered by 
a great number of rivers, whereof mention is made in 
the ancient monuments, but which are of too small im- 
portance to obtain notice here. 

To enter upon some detail of positions, we must first 
speak of a city of Greek foundation, as having existed 
under the name of Phasis, at the mouth of the river of 
the same name. — On this river too, at some distance 

from the sea. Ma had been known to the Argonauts 

But the principal city of Colchis, and the native place of 
Medea, was Cyta, now Cotatis, on the Rheon, a little 
above its junction with the Phasis. — There is no men* 
tion of Archxopolis till the reign of Justinian; yet as the 
principal place of the Lazi, and which defended itself 
against the Persians, it may be interesting to remark, 
that its position accords with that which in Mingrel is 
distinguished as an asylum of the princes of the coun- 
try, under the name of Ruki. — On the shore of the sea, 
Dioscurias, also named Sebastopolis, was in the earliest 
age the port most frequented in Colchis by distant as 
well as neighbouring nations, speaking different lan- 
guages; a circumstance that still distinguishes Iskuriahj 
whose name is only a depravation of the ancient dene 
mination.— The last place of the country was PiiyHs, iht 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 175 

SECT. II. COLCHIS, &C. 

accusative whereof, or Pityimta^ has iiiade the modern 
denomination of Pitchinda: and, a little fcirther, a pas- 
sage contracted between the sea and a mountain was 
closed by a retrenchment called Validua Murus^ or the 
Strong Wall; and this defile is still called Derbend, 
which has a corresponding signification. 

Among many nations distinguished between them- 
selves, it is remarked that the yidasci, now beyond the 
limits of Mingrel towards Pitchinda, appealed heretofore 
about the centre of Colchis. — In Caucasus the Huani^ a 
powerful nation, were on the confines of Colchis, and 
the country which they occupied is still called Suaneti, 
which appears to be the ethnic of the nation. Many 
gorges of Mount Caucasus retain vestiges of retrench- 
ments by which they were closed. — On the common li- 
mits of Iberia.^ Armenia., and Colchis., the Moschi., por- 
tioned between these three regions, caused the name of 
Moschia to be given to the country which they occupied, 
whose mountains covering the sources of the Euphra- 
tes, communicate with the chains that reign through 
Pontus and the lesser Armenia. 

Iberia. Iberia holds the middle in the space that ex- 
tends from the Euxine to the Caspian Sea. Mountains de- 
tached from the ridge of Caucasus, by which it is cover- 
ed towards the north, embrace it on one side towards 
Colchis, and on the other towards Albania; and thus in- 
terrupt the communication between the two seas. Its 
name of Iberia seentis to be now confined to the part 
bordering on Colchis, which is called Imeriti, by the 
change of a letter> according to the modern practice of 
the Levantine Greeks; while the name of Georgia has 
prevailed over far the greater part of the country— A 



176 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

COLCHIS, &C. SECT. II. 

great river called Cyrus., issuing from the frontier of 
Armenia, tra\/erses all this country to the limits of Al- 
bania; after having received the Araxes, it discharges 
itself into the Casfiian Sea by two mouths, which retain 
the name of Kur. Iberia was not subjected to the Medes 
or Persians; nor could it have been well known in the 
west before the Roman arms, under the conduct of 
Pompey, penetrated through Albania., to the Caspian 
Sea; or till the affairs of Armenia occasioned discord with 
the kings of this country. 

In a narrow pass at the entrance of the country, 
where the Cyrus receives another river named Aragus, 
were two cities at no great distance from each other; 
Harmozica on the greater river, and Seumara on the 
less; and it may be presumed that these places were in 
the neighbourhood of Alkalzike, the capital of a govern- 
ment on this frontier of the Turkish empire. — We 
should be glad to discover the position of Zalisso, which 
is mentioned by Ptolemy as the capital of Iberia — On 
the frontier of Colchis, a place called Ideessa had borne 
the name oi Phrixus, which, according to Greek fables, 
was antecedent to the arrival of the Argonauts in the 
country. — In the remotest part of Iberia, towards the 
north is a narrow passage through the mountains, called 
Pyla: Caucasiae, which was closed with a gate, and de- 
fended by a fortress named Cu?nama: and the bed of a 
torrent traversed this defile. A vast country, consisting 
of plains, stretches from these mountains as far as the 
Palus Mxotis; and it was to shut the entrance of Iberia 
against the Sarmatian nations assembled in these plains, 
that this passage was fortified. Under the lower em- 
pire these nations, among whom we distinguish the Sa- 



CHAP. n. ASIA. ITT 

SECT. IT. COLCHIS, &C. 

diri, are called Huns. In the time of Justinian, the for- 
tress was in the possession of a Hunnic prince, and it is 
found cited in an Armenian manuscript under the name 
of Hounnora-Kert. 

Albania, jilbayiia extends from Iberia eastward along 
the Caspian Sea to the Cyrus^ which appears to separate 
it from Media Atropatena; and its limits remount this ri- 
ver to a stream, which it receives towards the frontier of 
Iberia, and whose name of Alazon it yet retains. — The 
country was divided among many nations, which Pom- 
pey found united under a king. The people inhabiting 
Albania, less inclined to agriculture than those of Ibe- 
lia, were occupied principally in the feeding of cattle. 
There is mention in antiquity of the Leges, or Legce, as 
a Scythian people of Caucasus, near the sea, and conti- 
guous to Albania. 

According to Piiny the principal city of Albania was 
Cabalaca, which name is found in that of Kablas-var, 
on a river named Samura: and as this river is the great- 
est in the centre of the country, it may represent the 
Mbanusfiiroius of Ptolemy. A maritime city, under the 
name of Albava, might be represented by Niasabad if 
a position more northern than the river, according to 
Ptolemy, did not suit better with that of Derbend.— If a 
maritime city be sought for distant towards the south, 
to correspond with that of Getara in Ptolemy, Baku will 
be found to agree in the local circumstances, being a 
place remarkable for the springs of naphtha or bituiuen 
in its en\ irons . — The object most remarkable in Alba- 
nia is a defile between a promontory of Caucasus i.nd 
the sea; the passage of which is closed by the interpo- 
Q 2 



178 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

COLCHIS, Sec. SECT. II. 

sition of a city, named by the Persians Der-bend; by the 
Turks, Demii-capi, or the Gate of Iron; and by the 
Arabs, Bab-al-Abuab, or the Gale of Gates. This situ- 
ation suits the application of the name of Albmiix Pyla, 
or the Gates of Albania. Adjacent as they are to the 
Caspian Sea, the name of Casfiia Pyla would appear 
more proper to these than to the gates of Iberia, before 
mentioned, to which the Romans, nevertheless, who 
during the war in Armenia, under Corbulo, had prepa- 
red maps of the country, applied this name of Casfiiav. 
But a defile conducting, according to Strabo, from Alba- 
nia into Iberia, and which must be the Albania Pylx 
that we see in Ptolemy; at a distance from the sea, is a 
topical circumstance at this day well known; there be- 
ing a similar passage through the Daghestan into (he 
Kaketi of Georgia, and named in the country Tup^Ka- 
ragan. 

Armenia. .^rmeMm extends from the Euphrates east- 
ward to the place where the Kur and Aras unite their 
streams, not far from their mouth. It is contiguous on the 
north to the three other countries assembled in this sec- 
tion, and which fill all the interval between theEuxineand 
Caspian Seas. Towards the south it is bounded by Me- 
sofiotamia, Assyria^ and Media. It is a country much 
tJiversified with mountains and plains. The Euphrates 
and Tigris have here their sources; and the Aras tra- 
verses the principal part of the country from ,west to 
east. — The fables published by the Greeks concerning 
the origin of this nation, and the name of the country, 
merit not the least consideration. Armenia appears to 
have been successively subjected to tne great monar- 
chies oi the East: to that ot the Medes, after the Assy- 



OlIAP. II. ASIA. 179 

SECT. II. COLCHIS, &C. 

rian domination; and then governed by Satraps under 
the kings of Persia. The Seleucides reigned here till 
the defeat of Antiochus the Great by the Romans. The 
governors who commanded in Armenia then rendered 
themselves independent. But this state fluctuating be- 
tween two potent empires, and alternately ruled by the 
Romans and the Parthians, was considered by the latter 
as the portion for the cadet of the house of the Arsaci- 
des. It was the same under the second empire of the 
Persians: and the part confining on this empire was call- 
ed Persarmenia. 

To enter upon the detail, we must follow the route 
which travellers furnish, and depart from the position of 
Arzroum. This position is known to the Byzantines 
only under the name of Arze; to which is added the 
svirname of Room, denoting a place in the Greek em- 
pire. — We believe that the name of Gymnias, which oc- 
curs in the retreat of the ten thousand, is found in that 
of Gennis — a considerable place on the frontier of the 
lower empire, named TAeodosio/iolis, is now called Has- 
san-cala, and otherwise Cali-cala, or the Beautiful Cas- 
tle. The Arajces, or Aras, is in this place but a rivulet; 
and the name of F/iasiane, which the Byzantines be- 
stow on a canton traversed by the Aras at its entrance 
into Armenia, subsists in that of Pasiani, or Pasin, as 
the Turks call it. Thus we are not surprised to find in 
Xenophon that the Greeks passed the Aras under the 
name of Phasis. — It is proper here to remark that Ar- 
menia is separated from ^olchis by the river Acamfisis^ 
which is said to rush into the Euxine with such impe- 
tuosity, as to forbid all approaches to the shore. It is 
named Boas towards its source, which it has among the 



180 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

COLCHIS, &C. SECT. II. 

mountains inhabited by the Tzani, whose name was 
Sanriz, according to the most ancient notice of this na- 
tion. — The situation of Ispira on this river indicates that 
of Hisfiiratis^ which Strabo speaks of as containing 
mines of gold. 

We now revert to the course of the Aras. It re- 
ceives on the left shore a river which comes from an 
ancient city, whose present name of Anisi refers to that 
oi Abiiicum of the Byzantine historians. As to the name 
of the river, which is Harpasou, it scarcely differs from 
the Harfiasus that we find in Xenophon, immediately 
after the passage of the Phasis, which we have remark- 
ed to be the Aras. — Descending the Aras a little, we 
encounter Armavria, or Armavir, as the Armenians 
pronounce it; which, in their tradition, is an ancient roy- 
al city. But it is still lower, and in a bend of the river, 
fhat the Armenian city most distinguished in history 
existed under the name of ylriaxata, which it received 
from king Artaxias. This city is no longer in being, 
but its site is knomi. — If the tradition of the country is to 
be credited, another royal city, to which the king Valar- 
saces, brother to the second of the Parthian Arsaci- 
des, had given the name of Falarsa/iat, existed in the 
place where the patriarchal church of Eksmiazin is now 
found. The population of these places has been ex- 
hausted to supply Erivan, now the predominant city in 
their neighbourhood, — Naksivan is a city distinguished 
in Armenia, by the opinion of its being constructed 
soon after the deluge; and we find Maxvana in Ptole- 
my. The country here extends in plains more than in 
any other part; and the Aras, towards the end of its 
course, separates it from Mtdia Atropatene. 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 181 

COLCHIS, &C. SECT. II. 

We proceed to describe the parts which extend to 
Mesopotamia and Assyria. To tlie Eufihrates which 
has its origin near Arzroum, is added another branch, 
whose sources called in the country Bing-gheul, or the 
Thousand Fountains, form a river which appears to have 
been that named Lycus. The river, of which the un- 
ion of these two streams makes the commencement, is 
particularly called Frat. But there is still another Eu- 
phrates, which having its fountains more remote, be- 
comes more considerable than the preceding at its junc- 
tion. This Euphrates is that which, precisely under 
this name the ten thousand passed in returning; and the 
same that Corbulo, charged with the conduct of the war 
in Armenia under Nero, makes issue from a district 
called Caranitest according to the report of Pliny. Pto- 
lemny recognises a twofold Euphrates, concerning which 
modern literati manifest an embarrassment which a fur- 
ther knowledge of the country will remove. The 
mountain whence the second Euphrates issues, is called 
Abusf or Abas:—Moxoene, forms a particular canton 
among many which Dioclesian acquired by cession of 
the king of Persia, and which is recognised in the name 
of Moush. — The river which traverses it appears to be 
the Teleboasy which the ten thousand met with between 
the sources of Tigris and their passage of the Euphra- 
tes The space comprised between the two Euphrates, 

retains its name oi Acilisenem that of Ekilis. — Between 
the Euphrates and Mount Taurus is a great country, 
whose name of Sophene is preserved in that of Zoph. 
A river named Arsanias., now Arsen crosses this coun- 
try, to discharge itself into the Euphrates, after having 
passed Arsamosata, a considerable place, whose name is 



182 ASIA. 

COLCHIS, &C. 



preserved under ihe form of Simsal, or Shinishat. A 
little below, and at a place of the same name with the 
£legia, or Ilija, by Arz-roum, the Euphrates pierces the 
chain of Mount Taurus; and this place is now called the 
Pass of Nushar. A fortress of this country above Sim- 
shat, called Kar-birt, is C/iarfiote in the Byzantine aw 
thors.— ^wzzVa, which gives the name lo u canton, ap- 
pears to be the same with a place called Ansga; and the 
fortress known by the name of Ardis seems to indicate 
the position of Artagi-certa, the same probably with Ar- 
iagera, mentioned particularly on the occasion of a mor- 
tal wound which Caius, one of the nephews of Augus- 
tus, received there. — On approaching Amid, we find 
Argana under the ancient name. Amida was not known, 
at least under this name, till the fourth century. From 
changes that took place about that time in the disuibu- 
lion of provinces, effacing even the primitive limits of 
countries, it happened that Amida was made the metro- 
polis of a province of Mesopotamia. Constantius, put- 
ting it into a state to cover this frontier of the empire, 
gave it the name of Co?istantia, which it has not retain- 
ed: for that of Amid has remained; and its walls, con- 
structed with black stones, have caused it to be called 
Kara-Amid; although it is more commonly denomina- 
ted Diar-Bekir, the name of its district— But we must 
not omit to remark that mention is made of a royal city 
Sophene by Strabo, under the name of Carcathio-certa; 
and the city of this name was on the Tigris, according 
to Pliny; whence arises a strong presumption that it is 
Amid which is thus spoken of under a former name, 
which expresses in its termination a place of defence. 
And this having been a barrier to the Greek empire, 



CHAP. 11. ASIA. 18S 

SECT. II. COLCHIS, &. 

has under that of the Turks become the residence of a 
Beglerbeg. — The origin of the Tigris is a subject of 
discussion. When we read in antiquity that the Tigris 
runs so near to Arsanias that these rivers almost mix 
their waters, it is only to be understood of the branch 
which passes the city just named. Other rivers which 
join this below Amid are equally taken for the Tigris; 
but it may be said that the peculiar Tigris of Pliny is 
that distinguished by the name of JVymphccus; and by 
that of Basilinfa, or Barema, in the oriental geography. 
On examining with attention the route of Xenophon, it 
will be found that the source of the Tigris which he 
met with ought to be referred to this last river. It cros- 
ses two or more lakes; and that named Thosfiitis was so 
called from a town named Thospiuy which appearing af- 
terwards under the name of Arzanioriim oppidiarif com- 
municated that of ArzaJiene to a canton; and it still sub- 
sists in the name of Erzen. — A place iiaeniioned in the 
notice of the empire under the name of Cepha^ pre- 
serves this name in the form of Hesn-keif, on the bor- 
ders of the Tigris, which nearly environs it by a re- 
markable involution.— It is plainly to be seen that such 
a denomination as that of Martyrofiolis on the JVymphte' 
lis could not have had being, till the lime of the Lower 
Empire; and this city is now called Miafarekin. — The 
mountainous chain which covers towards the north the 
sources of the Tigris, appears to be the Mfihates of the 
ancients, notwithstanding that the circumstances of Pto-^ 
lemy's report do not justify this opinion. — Tigranocerta, 
although the prosperity of Tigranes its founder was of 
short duration, appears to have preserved after him the 
rank of a great city. It could not be far removed from 



184 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

COLCHIS, &C. SECT. II 

the Tigris, since ils distance from Nisibis in Mesopota- 
triia is but thirty-seven miles. A very considerable ri- 
ver, named J\ricefihoriiis, flowed under its ramparts; and 
tvhen we see the Greeks in Xenophon, after having 
cleared the Carducian mountains, and before arriving at 
the fountain of the Tigris, passing a river, which in the 
country was named Centriles, there can be no doubt 
that this river has something common in its course wiili 
that which has the Greek name of .Yice/i/iorius. It ap- 
pears at present under the name of Khabour; and a city 
named Sered, towards the lower part of its course, may 
represent Tigranocerta. — This southern part of Arme- 
nia would terminate the description of the country, if it 
were not judged expedient to comprise within these li- 
intiitsthe great lake which has the name of Jr&issa in Pto- 
letny. It was on its northern side embellished with cities 
which were better known to the Byzantine writers than 
they had been before; viz, Chaliat or Aklat, Jrzea or 
Argish, Perkriy and the city under the name oi Jrtevii- 
ta. in Ptolemy, which appears to be that of Van. If Ar- 
menian history be worthy of credit, this city owed its 
foundation to Semiramis, and it should in consequence 
have borne the name of Semiramocerta; as among the 
Armenians Vani signifies a strong hold. Although it be 
common to call this lake by the modern name of the ci- 
ty, there may be also remarked an analogy between the 
name which Ptolemy furnishes and that of ^rzes, or 
Argish. This canton of Armenia is called Vaspurakan, 
a name that appears to be employed by the Byzantian 
\yriters. 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 185 

SECT. III. SYRIA. 

SECTION THIRD. 
SYRIA, 

WHICH NAME IS SETAINED. 

Among the countries of Asia, that which we proceed 
to describe is among the most worthy to be known. The 
Syrian nation was not bounded by the limits which com- 
prise Syria, but extended beyond the JSu/ihrates into Me- 
sofioiamiaj and we have also remarked, in ti'eating of Ca/i- 
/mdocia, that the people who occupied it, as far as the 
£uxine, were reputed of Syrian origin. The country still 
known by the name of Syria did not claim the same li- 
mits with the nation just mentioned. It extended along 
the sea from the frontier of Cilicia, and, comprehending 
Palestine, touched the limits of Egyjii. Mount Taurus 
covers it towards the north; and to the course of the 
Euphrates, on the side of the east, succeeds an indefi- 
nite canton of the desert Arabia; which, turning to the 
south, stretches into Arabia Petrxa. — In the dismem- 
berment which the empire of Alexander suffered after 
the death of this conqueror, Seleucus Nicator, having 
become the most powerful of princes among whom this 
empire was portioned, possessed the great division of it, 
extending from the JEgean Sea to India. But the insur- 
rection of the Parthians, which happened under Anlio- 
chusll, grandson of Seleucus, deprived the successors 
of that prince of the eastern provinces; and Antiochus 
III, in the war that he had with the Romans, lost tliat 
part of Asia which was situated beyond Mount Taurus 
with regard to Syria. Great divisions in the family of 
the Seleucides having at length extremely enfeebled 
■'this power, Tigranes, king of Armenia, took possession 
R 



186 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



of Syria, and, when constrained by Pompey to confine 
himself within his proper limits, his conquest became a 
province of the Roman empire. A situation bordering- 
upon the Parthian empire, and also upon the second 
empire of the Persians, must have made the defence ot- 
this province an object of the greatest importance. Syria 
constituted by much the greatest part of that Dioecese 
(for so the great departments established before the end 
of the fourth century were named) called Oriens; com- 
prising Palestine, a district of Mesopotamia, the province 
of Cilicia, and the isle of Cyprus.— By a division of pri- 
mitive provinces, there appear five in the limits of Syria, 
\iz,two Syrias, Pnma and^ecwwrfaor Salutaris; two Phce- 
nicias, one properly so called, and the other named Li- 
bani, by the extension of the anterior limits of Phoenice; 
and finally, the Eu/i/iraiensis.—ln the sacred writings 
Syria is called Aram. The Arabs now give it the name 
of Sham, which in their language signifies the left, its 
situation being such on facing the east. — To enter into a 
detail of the country, we shall depart from the sea at the 
limits of Cilicia, and ascending the Orontes to Damas- 
cus, thence visit the parts watered by the Euphrates. 
Phceriicia, with which the isle of Cyprus will naturally 
connect itself, will conclude this section: for whutever 
relates to the remainder of Syria, extending fromCoele- 
Syria to Arabia Petraea, which was called the Promised 
Land, or Palestine, will be fully discussed under that 
head, when treating of the Sacred Geography. 

The first position that occurs is Alexandria, surnam- 
ed Cata Isson, or near Issus, at the head of the bay 
called Issicus, well known to be that of Alexandretta, 
or, as the Syrians call it, Scanderonsi,-—A7i(ioc/tia, the re* 



CHAP. II. ASIA. ISr 



sidence of the kings of Syria, and founded by Seleucus 
Nicator, was one of the most potent cities of the east. 
It was called Theofiolis^ or the Divine City, when Chris- 
tianity became the predominant religion. It was in 
this city that the name of Christiani first began to dis- 
tinguish those who made profession of this faith. It pre- 
serves its name among the Arabs under the form of 
Antakia, but is almost depopulated; though the strong 
walls which environ it have resisted the ravages of time, 
as well as the calamities to which the city has been sub- 
jected. These walls border the left shore of the Oron- 
tes, tending towards its mouth; and, on the other, as- 
cend the heights by which the modern city is command- 
ed. To distinguish it from many other places of the , 
same name, it was surnamed Efii Daphne^ or near Daph- 
ne.— This Daphne was four or five miles lower down, in 
a place which groves of laurel and cypress, and cool 
fountains rendered delightful; and which is now called 
Beit el Ma, or the House of Water.* — Seleucia, on 



* This is among- the places, by comparison with which Mil- 
ton illustrates his Paradise: 

Not that fair field 

Of Enna, where Prosei-pine, gathering flowers, 

Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis 

Was gathered, which cost Cei"es all that pain 

To seek her through the world; nor that sweet grove 

Of Daphne by Orontes, and th' inspir'd 

Castalian spring; might with this paradise 

Of Eden strive: nor that Nyseian isle 

Girt with the river Triton, where old Cham, 

Whom gentiles Ammon call; and Lybian Jove, 



188 ASIA. CHAP. H 



SECT. III. 



the sea, near the mouth of the Orontes, was also a 
work of Seleucus Nicator; and, from its situation at the 
foot .of a mountain named Pierius^ was surnamed Pieria: 
but it was more distinguished for giving the name of 
Seleucis to a part of Syria, extended on the Orontes in 
ascending. The site of this city is known under the al- 
tered name of Suveidia. On the opposite side of the 
Orontes is mount Casius, from whose summit it was 
said, by an extravagant hyperbole, that both the morn- 
ing's dawn, and the evening's twilight might at the 
same time be seen. — dfiamea, situated between the 
Orontes and a lake, holding a place among the principal 
cities of this country, assumed the rank of metropolis of 
♦ the Second Syria. It was constructed by Seleucus Ni- 
cator, who entertained his elephants there, the number 
of which was said to amount to five hundred. This po- 
sition has been erroneously taken for that of Hamah; 
for the name of Apamea is still extant in Farnieh, at- 
tended with identical circumstances of situation. — Con- 
tinuing to ascend the Orontes, we find Epifihania^ or the 
Illustrious in Greek, in Hamah; it having reassumed its 
primitive Syrian name of Hamah^ in conformity to the 
practice of many cities whose names had been changed 
by the conqueror. We may be allowed to remark here, 
that Abulfeda, the author of a body of Oriental Geogra- 
phy, reigned in this city, with the title of sultan, in ti^e 
fourteenth century. — Emesa., which had a famous tem- 
ple of Elagabalus, or the Sun, retains its' name in the 
form of Hems, at no great distance from the Orontes 

Hid Amalthea, and her florid son 

Young' Bacchus, from bis stepdame Rhea's eyes. 



CHAP. 11. ASIA. 



on the right. — Laodicea, surnamed Libani, by distinc- 
tion from another Laodicea of Syria, on the sea, occupi- 
ed the position of a place called loushiah,— We now 
come to Damascus^ whose name is pronounced Demesk 
in the country. This city, which does not yield in cele- 
brity to any in Asia, was the metropolis of the Phceincia 
of Libanus. The charms of its situation in a fertile and 
irriguous valley, famous among the Orientals under the 
name of Goutah Demesk (the orchard of Damascus) are 
documents of the high antiquity of this city, as they have 
always occasioned it to revive after calamities that had 
nearly annihilated it at different periods. A river, na- 
med by the Greeks Chrysorrhoas, or the Current of 
Gold, otherwise Bardine, whence the modern name of 
Baradi is derived, divides in many channels, which 
stream through the city as well as in the environs.— 
Above Damascus, Abila, smnnm-edLysania, or of Lysa- 
Jiias, a governor of that name, is now called Nebi Abel, 
or the town of the Prophet Abel, after the immediate 
son of the parent of humankind. — At the bottom of an 
adjacent valley, Heliofiolis preserves, under its primi- 
tive name Baalbek, a magnificent temple dedicated to 
the divinity to which it owed its denomination, both in 
the Syriac and Greek. The valley is enclosed between 
two parallel ridges, which are Libanus and Anti-Liba- 
nus; the first having its exterior declivity towards the 
sea, while the second regards Damascus. And the 
name of Aulon, given to this valley, denotes a hollow in 
the Greek. It is now named el Bekah; and this district, 
extending to the sources of the Orontes, was called Cce- 
le- Syria, or the concave Syria, from its local character, 
R 2 



19a ASIA. CHAP. II. 



SECT. III. 



We proceed now to survey the course of the Eu- 
phrates, beginning with that country which is distin- 
guished by the name of Comagene, on the declivity of 
Taurus and Amanus, forming the northern extremity 
of Syria. Comagene was governed by kings, who were 
thought to have been of the race of the Seleucides, be- 
fore it was united to the empire under Vespasian. It 
is found afterwards confounded with the Eufihratesian 
province, of which it made a part; being mentioned in 
xhe Oriental Geography under the name of Kamash. — 
Samosata is its capital, situated advantageously on the 
Euphrates, at the apex of a great parabola, by which 
this river, which hitherto appears to direct its course to 
the Mediterranean, turns suddenly towards the east and 
south. This city is still known by the name of Seniisat. 
— Remounting the Euphrates, the strong places of Bor- 
salium and Claudius appear under the names of Bersel 
and Cloudieh.— Penrffws.sMs, which an expedition of Ci- 
cero (during his government of Cilicia) seems to re- 
commend to notice, appears to be a place known under 
the name of Behesni. — Syco-basilissea, situated upon a 
Roman way, should be the same with Soc/ioa, mention- 
ed in the march of Darius to meet Alexander at Issus. 
— Zeugma cotijuncCio, or the bridge, was the principal 
passage of the river, as its name evinces; and an ancient 
fortress by which it was commanded, is called Roum- 
Cala, or the Roman Castle; to which we may. add, that, 
on the opposite shore there is a place named 'Zegme. 
—1 he most considerable city in this part of Syria, and 
■which became the metropolis of llie Eufihratesian pro- 
\ince, was Hierofiolis, or the Sacred City, so called by 
the Macedonians, from its being the seat of the worship 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 191 



of Atergalis, a great Syrian goddess; but named by the 
Syrians Bambyce or Mabog. Its name is written Men- 
bigz by the oriental geographers, and subsists in a place 
much degraded from its ancient lustre. — Batna was 
distinguished by the allurements of its situation, which 
caused it to be compared with Daphne above mention- 
ed; and by the actual name of Adaneh, properly signi- 
fying a delightful dwelling, its position is now known 

But a city which, under the Macedonian princes, recei- 
ved the imputed name of Beraa, has become the most 
powerful and opulent of the Syrian cities, and is now 
known by an alteration of its more ancient denomination 
of C/ialiboji. And though through common usage it be 
called Alep,* the name should be written Haleb; since 
ihe Syrians themselves write it with a double aspiration, 
as Hhaleb, therein preserving analogy with the name of 
which it is formed. The name of Beria also is not al- 
together obsolete in the country. This city caused its 
canton to be distinguished by the name of Chalybonitis. 
—•As we again approach the Euphrates, Barbalissus is 
recognised in the position' of Beles; and we meet with 
it in tracing the march of the younger Cyrus, as the si- 
tuation of a palace of Belesis, who had been satrap^of 
Syria — At a little distance from the river, on a vast 
plain, which was called Bariaricus Cam/iua, and by the 
Arabs now named Siffin, we find Resafiha under the 
same name; that of Sergiofiolis, which the veneration of 
a saint had given to the same place, being forgotten— 
Thafisacusi a renowned passage of the Euphiaies, by 



* The Venetians call it Aleppo, by which name it appears 
also in our maps. 



192 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



which Alexander entered Mesopotamia,* and inclined 
towards the Tigris to fight Darius on the plains of As- 
syria, is named el Der in the country. — Lower down 
the river the position of a castle named Horur, or Go- 
rur, is remarkable for having the advantage of indicating 
a place which Pompey, in reducing Syria, decided as a 
boundary of the Roman empire under the name of Oru- 
roa according to Pliny. — We shall conclude this article 
with a notice of the famous city of Palmyra, which 
gives the name of Palmyrene to a vast plain that is uni- 
ted tp the Desert Arabia. The foundation of this city 
is attributed to Solomon, by Josephus the historian; and 
the name of Tadamora, which he applies to it, remains 
in tliat of Tadmor, a Syrian name, whose signification 
seems to have suggested the Greek denomination oi Pal- 
myra. This city, by its central position between two great 
empires, and by holding the sanqe relative situation to the 
two seas, by which it maintained a great commerce be- 
tween these divisions of the ancient hemisphere, rose to 
great opulence and renown. The great power of Ode- 
iiatusand Zenobia, under the reign of Galienus and Au- 
relian, is well known; and the remains of lofty edifices 
interspersed among the cabins of a few Arabs, manifest 
the former magnificence, and the present wretchedness, 
of Palmyra. 

Phoenice et Cyprus. Every one knows how much 



• Three years previous to this period, Darius crossed here, 
after his defeat at the battle of Issus; and fifty-nine years be- 
fore that the younp^er Cyrus passed in his expedition against 
his brother, and was said to have been the first who forded the 
river at Thapaacus. 



CHAP. U. ASIA. 193 

SECT. III. SYRIA. 

the Phanicians distinguished themselves by navigation, 
from which their, commerce derived its extension and 
aggrandizement. Confined to a margin of land between 
the sea and mountains, they could only acquire power 
by the means which they employed, and which were ex- 
erted with such success as to enable them to form estab- 
lishments, not only uu the shores of their own sea, but 
also on those of the Western Ocean. The Arts owed 
both their birth and their perfection to them. It was a 
Phoenician who introduced into Greece the knowledge 
of letters, and their use; and artists brought from Tyre, 
presided over the construction of the temple with which 
Solomon embellished his capital city. — In the description 
of this maritime part of Syria, we shall take our depar- 
ture from Laodicea^ which was a Phoenician city before it 
became a Greek one by renovation under Seleucus Nica- 
tor. It then took the name oiLaodicea; which, distinguish- 
ed by its maritime situation, was surnamed ad Mare; and 
its name has scarcely suffered any alteration in the pre- 
sent form of Ladikieh. Although Phoenicia be some- 
times mentianed in a manner that would prolong its ex- 
tent as far as the limits of Egypt, we deem it expedient 
here to stop at Tyre, that we may not take from Palaes- 
tine what it would have a right to reclaim, when we 
come to the consideration of it in turn. 

Immediately succeeding to Laodicea, Gabala exists 
in Gebileh. — Aradus is a rock two hundred paces in the 
sea, less than a mile in circuit, but which, nevertheless, 
contained a populous city, and powerful among those of 
Phoenicia. Its name in the present form is Ruad. An- 
taradus, situated opposite on the shore of the continent, 
is now named Tortosa, — Retiring froin the sea we must 



194 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



SECT. III. 



mention Rajihanex^ whose name is recognised in that of 
Rafineh. On a mountain in its environs, a fortress na- 
med Masiat was the residence of the Ishmaelite prince 
of the Assassins, celebrated in the time of the crusades. 
'-^Ap.haca^ a city infamous for prostitution, was destroyed 
by Constantine.— 5er2/?z/*, among the number of the 
principal cities of Phoenicia (th© termination being ab- 
scinded) is called Berut. The mountains of this part of 
Phoenicia are those which the Druses occupy, who are 
said to be descended from the crusards who took re- 
fuge here after the the loss of Palestine. — We arrive 
now at Sidon, which was distinguished by a degree of 
power and opulence beyond the competition of any other 
city in Phoenicia, Tyre excepted. By use it is called 
Sei'de, although a place at some distance from the sea, 
towards the mountain, preserves precisely the name of 
Sidon.— Between this city and Tyre Sarefita preserves 
its name in Sarfond. — There were two cities of the 
name of Tyre; Palae Tyrus, or the Antient, and Tyrus, 
placed on an isle; but the time of the transmigration is 
not well known. The ruins of the first furnished Alex- 
ander with materials for constructing a mole or causey, 
which joined the continent to the insulated city, and 
which time has rather consolidated than impaired. Tyre, 
which yielded to Sidon in antiquity, at least equalled it 
in renown; and the famous purple dye contributed to 
the maintenance of its wealth Its name in the orien- 
tal languages is Sur. The Franks, who rendered them- 
selves masters of this city, lost it again towards the end 
of the thirteenth century; and it is now buried in its ru- 
ins. 

The Isle of Cyfirus extends in length from a pro- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 195 



SECT. III. 



montory in the east named Jcamas, and now bearing the 
name of the Holy Epiphany, to another in the west call- 
ed Dinaretum, now Cape St. Andrew. The channel 
which separates the northern shore between these pro- 
montories from Cilicia, was called AtUon CiUcius, or the 
Cilician Strait. The southern shore of the island is di- 
vided into two parts by a point of land, whose name 
of Curias is changed into that of Gavata, otherwise Del- 
la Gatte. This island is not spacious enough to have 
large rivers: but it has many mountains; of which the 
most elevated and most centrical was named Olym- 
fiusf and is now called Santa Croc6. It is thought that 
its mines of brass or copper caused it to be called Cu- 
/iros, or rather that this metal owes the name which dis- 
tinguishes it to that of the island. The Turks call Cy- 
prus, Kibris; the Arabs, Kubrous — This island had re- 
ceived Phoenician tribes, before Greek colonies posteri- 
or to the war of Troy came to establish themselves in it. 
Under the dominion of the kings of Persia it was porti- 
oned into particular principalities, to the number of 
nine. .Ptolemy Soter king of Egypt, conquered it; and 
it was in possession of a prince of the house of the Pto- 
lemies when it was seized by the Romans. Although 
many Khalifs had endeavoured to become masters of it, 
it was not lost to the Greek empire till towards the 
end of the. twelfth century. It is now subject to the 
Turks. 

The principal city of Cyprus was Salamis, which, 
having been overwhelmed by an inundation of the sea, 
occasioned by an earthquake, was re-established under 
the name of Constanlia^ in the fourth century; and al- 
though it was depopulated towards the end of the se- 



196 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

SECT. IV. MESOPOTAMIA. 

venth, by the transmigration of its inhabitants, yet the 
name of Constanza remains to the site which it occupi- 
ed. Pedotus^ or Pedia, the most considerable of the ri- 
vers of this island, had its moUth here. The place 
which has since become the principal in the island, and 
not far distant from the former capital, is Famagouste, 
or rather Amogoste, as the Cyprian Greeks pronounce 
it, and derives this name from a sandy cape adjacent 
called Amochostos — There were two cities of the name 
of Pa/ihos: the more ancient, which had received Venus 
when issuing from the foam of the sea; and a new one 
which has prevailed, preserving its name under the 
form of Bafo, or Bafa. — We have three cities to cite in 
this interval between Salamis and Paphos: Citium, the 
native place of Zcno, author of the Stoic philosophy, 
and which is how called Chili; Amathics, a Phoenician 
rather than a Greek city, but where Venus was not less 
honoured than at Paphos, and whose site is called Lin- 
meson Antica: and lastly Curium^ which is thought to 
have occupied the position of a place now named Pisco- 
pia. — We think that we discover Idatium, as .well by 
the pleasantness of its situation, as by the analogous 
name of Dalin. 



SECTION FOURTH. 
MESOPOTAMIA, 

AL GEZIJtJ. 

The name of Mesopotamia is known to denote a 
country between rivers; and in the books of the Penta- 
teuch this is called Aram-Ala/iaraim, or Syria of the Ri- 
vers. It is also known that these rivers are the Eu/ihra- 



CHAP. Il.«( ASIA. 197 



MESOPOTAMIA. 



ten and the Tigris^ which embrace this country in its 
■\vholelength,and contract it by theii" approximation in the 
lower or southern part, which is contiguous to Babylon, 
From this situation it has acquired the name oflPGezi- 
ra among the Arabs, -vvho have no specific term to dis- 
linguisli a peninsula from t\n island. We cannot forbear 
remarking here, that it is through ignorance that this 
country is called Diarbek in the maps. For not only 
should this name be written Diar-Bekr, but it should al- 
so be restrained to the northern extremity, which Ar- 
menia claims in antiquity. This part con-esponds with 
the oriental geographers call Diar Modzar on the side 
of the Euphrates, and Diar-Rabiah on the banks of the 
Tigris. — On the north there reigns a mountainous 
chain, which from the passage of t!ie Euphrates through 
Mount Taurus extends to the I)orders of the Tigris. 
This is the Mount Maaius of antiquity, "^nd now known 
among the Turks by the plural appellation of Karadgia 
Daglar, or the Black Mountains. A river called Chabo- 
raa, which preserves the name of al-Kabour, and aug- 
mented by another river, to which the Macedonians of 
Syria have given the name of Mygdonius, proceeds to 
join the Euphrates under a fortress which we shall 
mention hereafter. The lower part of the country, dis- 
tant from the rivers, being less cultivated and more ste- 
rile than the upper, could be only occupied by Arabs 
called Scenites, or inhabiting tents. 

The dtsrrictof Mesopotamia, which is only separated 
from Syria by the course of the Euphrates, bore the 
name of Osroene, which it owed to Osroes, or, accord- 
ing to the chronicles cf the country, Orrhoes; who, pro- 
S 



198 ASIA. ^HAP. n. 



tESOPOTAMIA. SECT. IV 



filing by the feebleness of the Seleucides, caused by their 
divisions, acquired a principality about a hundred and 
twenty years before the C hristian sera. In the time of 
the unlBbcessful expedition of Crassus against the Par- 
thians, we find in this country a prince, whose name of 
Abgar passed successively to many others. The Eu-, 
phrates appearing to the prudence of Augustus as the 
boundary that nature had prescribed to the empire, the 
Osrocne princes had to adjust their interest between the 
E^oman power and that of the Parthians; and Trajan, in 
the conquest that he made of Mesopotamia, forbore to 
despoil the prince Abgar. But Caracalla did not con- 
duct himself with equal moderation. However, it can- 
not be decided that the Osrb'etie was distinguished as <! 
province of the empire before the time of the first sue- 
cessors of Constantine. — The capital of the country re* 
ceived from the Macedonian conquerors the name of 
JLdessa: and an abundant fountain which the city enclo- 
sed, calledin Greek Calli-r/ioe, communicated this name 
to the city itself. In posterior times it is called Roha, 
or, with the article of the Arabs, Orrhoa, and by abbre- 
viation Orha. This name may be derived from the 
Greek term signifying a fountain; or according to ano- 
ther opinion, it may refer to the founder of this city, 
whose name is said to have been Orrhoi: but however 
this be, it is by corruption that it is commonly called 
Orfa. A little river, which by its sudden inundations 
annoys this city, was called Scircus) or the Vaulter; and 
the Syrians preserve this signification of the name of 
Daisan. — Zeugma^ or the Bridge, which afforded en- . 
trance to the Osroene, and which has been mentioned 
under the article of Syria, wa -cr^ t!ie opposite side co- 



CHAP. n. ASIA. 199 

SECT. IV. MESOPOTAMIA. 

vered by a place named Apamea by some authors,^ and 
by others Seteucia, it having been constructed by the 
first Seleucus. — In receding from the Euphrates, it will 
be remarked that the name of Anthcmusias, which a city, 
bore, was transferred from Macedon; and that the name 
of Anthemuda was extended to a country of Mesopota- 
mia, where it preceded that of Osioene, which, by the 
establishment of a particular pi-incipality prevailed in its 
turn — Beyond Edessa, Cams, Charrx, or Charran, ac- 
cording to oriental orthography, (of which we cannot 
speak without recollecting the fate of Crassus in his ex- 
pedition against the Parthians), was a very ancient city; 
for it was thence that Abraham departed for the land of 
Canaan. This city was distinguished for an attachment 
to sabisin from the earliest ages, and in the worship 
rendered to the host of heaven, the god Lunus, denoting 
the moon by this masculine term, was here honoured 
with a particular adoration. Though inconsiderable at 
the present day, the name of Haran is continued to it. — 
A little river named Bilichia, or, as it is now called, Be- 
les, conducts us towards the Euphrates. — Mcephorium^ 
in an advantageous situation at the confluence of the Bi- 
lichia and the Euphrates, was a place of which Alexan- 
der had ordained the construction. Seleucus Callinicus, 
the fourth in succession of the kings of Syria of that 
race, having fortified the same place, or»«ome other spot 
ad-jacent, gave to it the name of Callinicum^ which in the 
fifth century, the emperor Leon of Thrace caused to he 
changed to Leontofiolis. It is, in the oriental geography, 
the position of a considerable place named Racca, and 
distinguished into three several quarters; in the prin- 



200 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

MESOPOTAMIA. SECT. IV. J 

cipal of which the Khalif Haroun Al-Rashicl erected a 
castle, which became his favourite residence. * 

We pass, without meeting with any object to arrest 
our attention, to the Chaboras, or al-Khabour. Its junc- 
tion with the Euphrates forms an angle which affords 
to Circesium a situation naturally advantageous, to which 
Dioclesian added fortifications, making it a barrier of 
the empire; and Kerkisia, as it is pronounced, pre- 
serves the same situation. Some of the learned are of 
opinion that this is the position mentioned in the Scrip- 
tures under ths name of Carchemis^ on the Euphrates. 
—~Resaina, which was a colony formed under Septimius 
Severus, received from Theodosius the nanie of T/ieo- 
dosiofiolis. — Below Kerkisia, the modern name of Zox»- 
Sultan, indicating the monument of some prince, plain- 
ly alludes to the younger Gordian, who perished by the 
conspiracy of Philip, and whose sepulchre was a t.»niu- 
lus of earth, thrown up by a Roman soldier on the spot. 
—Jnatho, on a holm farther down, and whose name 
subsists in that of Auah, is the residence of the most 
considerable prince among the Arabs, who nevertheless 
recognises the supremacy of the sultan of the Turks.— 
The Euphrates is thence seen to describe great circuits; 
and among these involutions, out of a number of^osi- 
tions we must cite the insulated cities o^ JVeharda and 
Pombedit.ia^whevQihQ Jews had celebrated schools. Ha- 
diiha and Juba are their modern names. — Is was another 
remarkable place, near a river of the same name, afford- 
ing the bitumen wherewith the walls of Babylon were 
cemented, according to Herodotus. — The place which 
appears best to accord with the field of Cunaxa, wherc'^ 
Cyrus lost his life in fighting, with his brother Artax 



CHAP-lII. ASIA. 201 

SECT, IV. MESOPOTAMIA. 

erxes, is Mnemon, immediately preceding a canal ot 
communication between the Euphrates and Tigris. This 
canal is what in the march of Julian is called Macefirac- 
ta, of the Syriac Maifarekin, denoting a derivation by 
the means of a canal. It is now dry, and is found to have 
been paved. What is beyond this seems without the 
bounds of Mesopotamia, which on this confine eveh is 
called Media. 

We must now remount the Tigris to complete the 
contour of Mesopotamia.. At the height of a place call- 
ed Opis, on the Babylonian side of the Tigris, extend- 
ing to the Euphrates, a rampart, thought to have been 
erected by Sc^miramis, separated the two cGuntries.— 
JBert/ia, or Vilra above, is described as a very strong 
fortress, and said to have been constructed by order of 
Alexander. There is no position more agreeable to 
this desurjption than that of Tecrit; which in the seventh 
cen^iury wws chosen for the residence of a Jacobite pri- 
mate, in whom the immediate government of many 
churches was confided, wi*h the title of Maphrien. This 
place having been taken and destroyed by Timur, or 
Temir-leng, in 1393, is now but a village — Hatra in 
the desert, at a distance from the Tigris, is a place cele- 
brated in history for having resisted the attacks of Tra- 
jan and of Severus in person, as well as those of Artax- 
erxes, under whom, in the third century, the Persians 
carried off from the Parthians the empire of the east. 
An Arabian prince occupied this place; which, although 
ruined is known by the name of Hatder. — The Roman 
army on its route towards Nisibis after the unsuccess- 
ful expedition of Julian, encountered a castle held by 
b 2 



202 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

MESOPOTAMIA. SECT. IV.. 

the Persians, and named f/z, which appears to some to 
. be the Uz of Chaldea, that the father of Abraham quit- 
ted to settle in Charran. — Among the principal places 
of Mesopotamia is Singaros transposed by Ptolemy in 
assigning it a place on the bank of the Tigris. After 
Trajan hac! made the conquest of this place, its situation 
on the common limits of two empires subjected it alter- 
nately to them both. Its modern name is Sinjar, which 
it communicates to a ridge of mountiiins in its vicinity. 
There is some difficulty in .acceding to the opinion 
which refers the name of this city to that of Sinear, 
which we find in the scriptures appropriated to the pltin 
country that was chosen for the site of Babel. Positive 
geography finds a hundred leagues of interval between 
Babylon and Singara. 

We pass now to jVidbis^ which of all the places of 
Mesopotamia was the most important; and its name 
Nisbin, in the plural, properly denotes posts, or military 
stations. Under the Macedonian princes of Syria, the 
district which is now distingiiished by the name Diar- 
Rabiah in al-Gezira, was called Mijgdo?iia, from a coun- 
try in Macedon, and Nisibis was named Antiochia Myg- 
doniit. This place is seen afterwards serving as a bar- 
rier to the Roman empire against the enterprises of the 
Parthians. But it was at length ceded to Siipor, king 
of Persia, by one of the conditions of the treaty which 
succeeded the disgrace of the Roman army in the ex- 
pedition of Julian. Nisibin is now a place entirely open, J| 
iind reduced to a hamlet. By a great number of brooks I 
whicl. descend from the neighbouring mountains, there 
is nere formed a liver, which in antiquity was called 
Mygdoniu8 jFli-viua, and is now named Hermas, or Nahr 



CHAP. n. ASIA. 203 



al Ilauali; and which, after having passed by Sinjar, ap- 
pears to unite with the Khabour, in a place named al- 
Nahraim, or the rivers. — In the Low.er empire, DaraySk 
^lace opposite and very near to Nisibin, was fortified in 
506, by the emperor Anastasius, and thence called 
Jiiastasiofiolis, It was the residence of a general of 
Mesopotamia under Justinian, but was taken by the 
Persian king, Chosroes Anushirvan, in the reign of Jus- ' 
tin II. In the name of Dara-Kardin, which the vesti- 
ges of this place preserve, that of Corde, proper to a 
neighbouring place, and a little river, is found tmited. — 
As to the extension given to Mesopotamia in compri- 
sing :4mida., as the m.etropolis of a province of that 
name, we have remarked that it was by an encroach- 
ment on Armenia, which appears to have taken place ia 
a time prior to the middle age of geography. 

SECTION FIFTH. 

ARABIA,* 

JVHICH NAME IS REGAINED. 

We proceed to survey a vast country, which extends 
from the Eufihrates on the north, to the Erythrean Sea 
on the south; having for its western limits the ^ra-' 
bic Gulf, commonly Called the Red Sea; and on the 
other siile the Persian Gulf, which, as well as the pre- 
ceding, is an inlet of the sea known in antiquity by the 
name of Erythrean. From its situation, bordered by 



• The cause of our finding the modern denominations under 
this head nearly the same with the ancient, is, that this country 
has never been invaded in such a manner as to make any great 
change in the population, as some others have been. 



204 ^'W^' ASIA. CHAP. 



J 



ARABIA. 



Avater on three sides, it is called in the language of the j 
people who inhabit it, Gezirat-el-Arab, the Island or Pe- | 
ninsula of Arabia.— -There are distinguished two races ,^ 
in Arabia, as well by lineage as by modes of life. Th#^ 
first and more ancient are reputed to owe their origin •'! 
to Jectan, or Kahtan, son of Eber; they are called /tuve \ 
Jt-absi inhabit cities, and have been governed by kings, ; 
A posteror generation of Mostarabes, or mixed Arabs, : 
who are not stationary, or occupied by agriculture, but ■■■ 
erratic and pastoral, recognise for their author Isma- • 
el, the s'on of Abraham. — It has been remarked that '^ 
none of the great Asiatic powers have subjugated a na- \ 
tion whose liberty seems defended by the nature of their j 
country, destitute of water, and for the most part uncul- ,| 
tivated; and an expedition undertaken into Arabia by \ 
Augustus, had nearly occasioned the destruction of a 
Roman army, without any advantage resulting from it. 
— It is sufficiently known that this continent is divided^ 
into three regions distinguished from each other by tire 
several epithets of Petraa, the Hapjiy, and the Desert 1 
Arabia. What appertains to each it is our present pur^ 
pose to show. 

Arabia Petrjea. From the confines of Judaea, Ara- 
bia Petrea extends towards the south to the Arabic Gulf; 
which embraces it by two smaller gulfs that tciminate 
the greater, under the names of HeroopolilcH on the 
west, and Mlanites on the east. The limits of Egyfxt 
terminate it towards the west. The part confining on 
Judxa is particulurly distinguished under the name of; 
Jdumaa, formed from that of Edom, which was given J 
to Esau, the son of Jacob. And the posterity of this pa- j 
triarrh possessed a part of Arabia Petrea, when the 



CHAT. II. ASIA. 205 



ARABIA. 



people of Israel, respecting the limits of a nation sprung 
from a common ancestor, made a grejat circuit through 
the desert, turned south to the Elanite Gulf, and then 
remounting northward, entered by the country of Moab. 
But the posterity of Ismael, who derived their name 
from Nabuioth, his eldest son, becoming very numerous, 
the name of J^abath<si prevailed in Arabia Petraea; 
which in the time of Augustus was governed by a king 
seated at Petra, whence the country drew its name,r 
Irlaving been conquered by Trajan, it was joined to Pa- 
lestine; and afterwards formed a particular province 
called the Third Palestine, and otherwise Salutaris, of 
which the metropolis was the ancient residence of its 
kings. The modern name of this city is Krac, which 
is also common to many other places whose natural 
situation is very strong. Baldwin I, king of Jerusa- 
lem, becoming master of this place, gave it the name 
of Mount Royal. This prince suffered much in traver- 
sing the mountains south of Judaea, which have caused 
this part of Idumaea to be called Gebalene, from the term 
Gebel, or Gebal, which in Arabic denotes a mountain. 
On this route, and beyond the mountains, he found a 
city, whose name Sezuma has re-established Sodom un- 
der this form in the opinion of some. 

The cities known to antiquity in Arabia Pelraa, are 
those of which we have no modern information. We 
must, however, except JLlana, or Ailath, as it appears 
in the Bible, and which gives to one of the arms which 
the Arabic Gulf forms at its extremity, the name of &'- 
nus Mlanites. This place, which is now ruined, has no 
(cultivated land in its environs, though it preserves the 
name of Ailah. — 4siongabery whence the fleets of Solo» 



206 . ASIA. CHAP. II. 



mon took their departure for Ophir, was an open port, 
at the head of the most eastern creek of the Elanite 
Gulf; and this position is called Berenice by Ptoiemy. 
The Arabic name of Minet ed-dahab, signifying the 
Port of Gold, hud reference to the riches that were tKere 
debarked on the return from Ophir. This place is now 
called Calaat-el Acaba, which signifies the Cast|eof the 
Descent; while tiic Elanite Gulf isnanieil Babr-el-Aca- 
ba. — The point called Ras-Mahommed, which separates 
this gulf from the Heroopolite, or that of Suez, was 
called Posidium, in common with many other promon- 
tories, which derived this name from the Greek of Nep- 
tune. Ptolemy names it Fhara, and notes an inland city 
of this name; to which relates the desert of Fharan, in 
the Scriptures. There is nothing reniaining of this city 
but the ruins of a monastery, called Deir-Faran. — The 
mount of Sinai, to which that of Horeb is contigu- 
ous, is called by the Arabs Gebel-Tour; and a place 
called Tor, which is the port of Mount Sinai, was 
formerly distinguished for its palm trees, under the 
name of Phomicon. — The Nabatheans prevailing in Ara- 
bia Petraea, extended themselves far towards the De- 
sert, and thus confounded the limits of their primitive 
seats and the Hapfiy jirabia; so that these limits cannot, 
with accuracy, be decided. It may be said, however, 
that the first claims not only the country between the 
gulfs, as has been reported, but also that adjacent to the 
eastern shore of the Elanite gulf. — Median, called bj 
Ptolemy Modiana, and whose name relates to one of th« 
children that Abraham had of Keutrah, caused the Ma^^ 
dianites to be so called; and we find the dwellings of 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 2137 



part of these contiguous to the Moabites.* The posiiion 
of Madian, not fav from the iea, is called by the Arabs, 
Megar-el-Shuaib, or the Grotto of Shuaib; and this 
name of Shuaib is given Jethro, who was pontiff of 
Madian, and father-in.-law to Moses. — Farther on, a ma- 
ritime castle, called Calaat-el-Moilah, appears to corres- 
pond to a town of Pcenician establishment, called Phce- 
nicum O/ifiidum by Ptolemy — We believe that we ought 
to terminate our description of Arabia Petraea with thi$ 
position. The modern dependencies of Egypt, under 
ijhe government of the Turks, extend to the neighboui- 
hood of a place named Hawr, from whence we shall de- 
part, to follow the coast of the gulf, in treating oi Arabia 
the Hapfiy, 

Arabia Felix, In Arabia Felix are comprised the 
places adjacent to the Arabia Deserta of Ptolemy, also 
the territories of Thainydeni, or Thamiiditte^ who com- 
pose a distinguished tribe, and preserve the name of 
Thamud, or Tzammud. The name of Oaditce is found 
in that of Wadi-al-Kora, on the route of the Hadgis, ov 
pilgrims, on their return from Mecca. There is mention 
made of the A/aarfenf, or men attached to mines, as sub- 
jected to the Homerites, who prevailed in Arabia Felix; 
and Maaden-al-Nocra is a place in the same canton. — ? 
Coastrng along the Arabic gulf we find a placfe named 
Albus pagus, or, according to the Greek, Leuce come, 
which must be the same with Hawr before mentioned; 
as the Arabic name has relation to whiteness, which 



* A more particular account of these and otlier nations bor- 
dering upon Palestine in remote antiquity, will be noticed ia 
the sequel, when treating of the sacred geography. 



ASIA. CHAP 



'] 



ARABIA. 



that anciently appropriated to it signifies, — A point fi.r 
.projected in the sea, in the manner of a peninsula, 
which was called Cher&onesus extr&ma, is, now called 
Ras-Edom,orthe Red Head.^ — We then arrive at Char- 
motas, a port with a spacious basin, although extremely 
contracted at the entrance: and its modern name of al- 
Sharm signifies the slit or aperture. — Receding still far- 
ther from the sea, the name of latreb, appropiiated to 
Medina before it was called Medinet-al-Nabi, or the 
City of '.he Prophet, is the same with lalri/ifia. —The 
name of Mecca appears evidently in that of Mgco-raba,^ 
the second member whereof is used to designate a great 
or principal city; and the house revered at Mecca is 
among the Arabs of an antiquity anterior to the origin 
of the Mahommedan worsliip; for they attribute the 
foundation of it to Abraham.— .We cannot forbear re- 
marking that a river whose course appears considerable 
in Ptolemy, under the name o( Betius] is in reality only 
composed of two little streams, now called Bardilloi. 
Arabia has scarcely a river that does not perish in the 
^andy plains, or expand in moors and fens. — The city of 
Badeo, with the epithet of JRegia, or Royal, retains the 
name of Badea in its maritime position; and a point of 
land which forms the southern boundary of the creek, at i 
the head of which is seated Giddah, the port of Mecca, 
is still called Ras-bad. — At length, arriving at the strait, 
by which the Arabic Gulf communicates with the Ery- 
threan Sea, we discover in a port named Ghela, that, 
which is mentioned in antiquity under the name of Ocehs. , 
This frith was called Diray or Dirte, which in Greek 
expresses a passage straitened in the manner of a throat, 
Its modern name of Bab-el- Vlandeb signifies in thci 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 189 



ARABIA. 



Arabic language the Port of Mourning or Affliction, 
from apprehensions of the risk of venturing beyond, in 
the expanse of a vast ocean. 

The southern part of Arabia, which remains to be re- 
viewed, bounded on the east by the jirabic Gulf, and on 
the south by the Erythrean Sea, ia that which particu- 
larly merits the epithet of Haji/iy. The name of lehtien, 
whereby it is actually known, is a term in the Arabic, 
as in many other oriental languages, to express the 
Right: and turning towards the rising Sun, according to 
the aspect affected by the Asiatics, such will be the re- 
lative posiiioxi of a southern country. It may be added 
that in this term of lemen is also comprised an idea of 
felicity. — Among the several people included in this 
country, and specially reputed Jectanides, or chil- 
dren of Jjectan, the Sahxi are the most distinguished, 
and sometimes comprise others under their name. Ano- 
ther name, that of the Homerita:, thought to be derived 
from Himiar, the name of a sovereign, and which sig- 
nifies the Red King, appears latterly confounded with 
that of the Sabeans. — Sabatha, as the principal city of 
the Sabeans, can be no other than Sanaa, which is known 
in Icmen as holding anciently the first rank. — TheMinxi, 
who formed a people sufficiently conspicuous to give to 
tlieir country the name of Minaa, had for their capital 
Carmia, whose name is preserved in that of Almakara- 
na, which is a strong fortress. — Safihar, tiie name of 
another city among those of the first class, differs only 
in its initial letter from that of Dafar.— Tlzwa/a is found 
in the name of al-Demlou, which belongs to one of the 
strongest places, by nature of its situation. — The royal 
T 



210 ASIA. CHAP. U. 

ARABIA. SECT. V. 

city of the Homerites was called Mariaba, or, as we 
read in Arabic, Mareb; which name expresses in this 
language the pre-eminence of the city. The Arabs 
make it the residence of Beltris the queen of Saba, who 
visited Solomon. There subsist vestiges of this city, 
which was destroyed by a sudden inundation caused by 
the bursting of a dyke whereby the collected waters in 
its environs were restrained. It confined on a country 
■whose modern name of Hadramaiit is only the altered 
pronunciation of C/iatramoHta, among whom the city 
named Catabanum is now found in the fortress of the 
same country, under the name of Shibara.— Beyond this 
is another country, whose name of Soger, or Sehger, 
comes from Sochor, cited by Ptolemy, although mispla- 
ced by him, as are many well-known posiiious. This is 
.the canton which, affording the incense, admits with 
signal propriety the name of Thurlfera 7?f5"zo, otherwise 
and more specially that of Libanofihoros, because the 
most valuable kind of the drug is distinguished by its 
whiteness; Libah being the Arabic term for this quality. 
Hence, among traders, incense is called Oliban, with the 
article of the Portuguese language, which is current in 
the ports of the oriental seas, as the Franc language i$ | 
in those of the Mediterranean. When we read, in the * 
account of the expedition of the Romans in Arabia, that 
from the territory of Mariaba lo the country of incense 
was only a journey of three days, Hadramaiit must be 
understood; which, nearer than Seger, had also its par- 
ticular odour. — On the route that the Romans held in 
their retreat, as well as in advancing into the country, 
there is mention of Anagraria, as a considerable cityj 
which afterwards became the centre of Christianity in 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 2lt 

SECT. V. ARARIA. 

Arabia, and the royal residence of Arethas, whom Du- 
naan king of the Homerites, and a Jew by religion, cau- 
sed to be put to death. It well preserves its name in 
Nageran. By inclining to the left from Nagran, or Na- 
gran, and taking the route of Chaalla towards the gulf, 
the return of the Roman army was rendered shorter and. 
less toilsome than their progression. This place has 
relation to a canton whose name is Khaulan, and termi- 
nates what we more distinctly recognise of positions in 
the interior of Fertile Arabia. 

We proceed now to the notice of what the coast of 
the Erythrean Sea offers to observation. The first re- 
markable place after the Arabic gulf is Arabia Felicis 
Emtiorium, to which corresponds the modern name of 
Aden, a word denoting pleasure and delight. It is men- 
tioned even in the fourth century under the name of 
Adanc precisely, which is more like the proper name 

of a plctce than the preceding Cana Emporium, which 

succeeds, keeps its name in that of Cana-Camin.— ZJ/o^- 
coridis insula is adjudged to Arabia; for, though nearer 
to i\frica, it always obeyed an Arabian prince, and does 
still obey one; but occupying a situation widely distant 
from that which Ptolemy has given it. This is well 
known to be Socotora, whose aloe is more esteemed than 
that of Hadrani.ut. If we believe the Arabian writers, 
Alexander settled here a colony of lounanion, that is to 
say, of Greeks. Become Christians, they remained 
such, according to Marco Polo, at the close of the thir- 
teenth century. — A bay of the sea, comprising isles 
which are mentioned as odoriferous, is named Sacalites 
Sinus. In the Arabian geographers its name appears 
Giun-al-Hascic, or the Gulf of Herbs. At its head is a 



212 ASIA. CHAP. 



= i 



SECT. V, 



city named Hasec, near which there is a tomb named 
Cabal Houd, and said to be that of Eber, father of Jectan. 
.—The identity of an island mentioned under the name of 
Sera/iis, cannot be better assigned than to that which lies 
beyond, and whose modern name is Maceira. As we 
read in a particular description of the shores of the Ery- 
threan Sa, that the Syagros Promontorium is the most 
eastern point of this continent, it can be no other than 
Ras-al-Hhad, although the information of Ptolemy ap- 
pears not to authorize this opinion. We shall stop here, 
as the retrogression of the coast towards the entrance 
of the Persian gulf will enter more properly into a de- 
tail of what concerns the Desert Arabia. 

Arabia Desert a. To the Region of Incense siic- 
ceeds a country named Mahrah, whose aspect is suffi- 
ciently deformed by nature to merit the distinction of 
the Sterile Arabia. For between the country of Oman, 
whereof we shall presently speak, and the environs of 
Mecca, a continued desert extending across the conti- 
nent, furnishes no particular objects in geography; the 
ancients appearing even to be unacquainted with the 
country in this part. But, adhering to the coast, we 
find Moscha partus represented by Mascat, which was 
for some time in the power of the Portuguese. And this 
position follows the Syagrosic promontory, instead of 
preceding it as in Ptolemy. Also the Onianium Emfio- 
unif or Omana, which this geographer places in the in- 
terior of the continent, is actually a maritime position, 
which has given the name of Oman to the country in itt 
environs. That of Vodona, also noted by Ptolemy, is 
evidently the same with Vadana, the residence of an 
Emir in the country of Oman. Knowing only as Ara- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 213 



bia Deserta what extends on the south side of the Eu- 
phrates between Syria and Babylon, the writers of anti- 
quity have comprised this shore of the Persian gulf in 
Arabia Felix; and truly some places are recognised on 
it that do not disgrace this distinction. — The point of 
land which straitens the entrance of this gulf is covered 
with mountains, which were named Sabo, or Assabo 
with the Arabic article, and to which a port named Li- 
ma now communicates its name. Macce was that of a 
people on this land, and Maceta, the name of the pro- 
montory which terminates it, is now called Mogandon. 
The inhabitants of this coast are mentioned under the 
name of Ichtlnjofihagi^ because they subsisted chiefly 

upon fish. 

The most considerable object furnished by the Gulf 
of Persia on the Arabian coast, is the isle of Tylos; the 
pearl fishery on whose coast has rendered it famous in 
antiquity: and the same circumstance still contributes 
to its renoun, under the name of Bahrain, which in Ara- 
bic signifies two seas. — At the bottom of a little gulf 
making a creek of the greater, Gerra was a city enrich- 
ed by commerce of the perfumes brought from the Sa- 
bean country, sent up the Euphrates to Thapsacus, and 
across the desert to Petra. This city, for the construc- 
tion of whose houses and ramparts stones of salt were 
used, appears to be represented by that now named el- 
Katif. — lemama, a country which according to modern 
geography is remarkable, makes no figure in antiquity; 
one cannot even conjecture what might have represent- 
ed it. — A place named Cariatain, in the route of the pil- 
grims passing from Bussora or Basra to IMecca, appears 
T 2 



21.4 ASIA. CHAP. I 



under the name of Cariat/ia'm Ptolemy. — The Romans, 
in their Arabian expedition, before arriving at Nagran, 
traversed a country named Ararena, which, though arid 
and barren, was governed by a king. — The tribe of Beni- 
Temin, which occupies a part of the desert, may find its 
name in that of the Themi^ among many other names 
furnished by Ptolemy. 

We shall conclude this section with some general 
remarks. The Arabs who live under tents are called 
ScenitXj after a Greek term, which signifies precisely 
this species of habitation. In calling them Bedouins, 
we use an Arabic word, denoting a people habituated 
to live in plains without a fixed habitation, and properly 
expressed by the Latin term Camfiestres, The first 
mention that we find of the Saraceni in Pliny and in 
Ptolemy, far from affording an idea of a great nation, 
seems to indicate but a single tribe among those who 
divided the country of Arabia Petrea, as well as that of 
the desert. Procopius, under Justinian, speaks of the 
Roman Saracens and the Persia?: ^a7-acens, and we see 
this name diffused over the space extending between 
the Arabic and Persian gulfs. In the opinion of some 
of the learned, this denomination is derived from an 
Arabic term, designating men addicted to rapine; and 
as we see them without scruple adopting this mode of 
life, we may believe that they would not blush to be dis- 
tinguished by the name. That oi Hagareniy which we > 
find in the historians of the Lower empire, is founded 
on their origin in Ishmael, son of Hagar, and seems to 
have been used to perpetuate a remembrance of this 
origin. 



I 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 215 



SECTION SIXTH. 
ASSYRIA, 

KURDISTAN. 

Separated from Mesofiotamia by the Tigris, Assy- 
ria extends on the eastern bank of this river, from the 
limits of ^rwjema towards the north, to those of Babylon 
in the south. A chain of mountains whose name was 
Zagros, now called by the Turks Tag-Aiagha, separate 
it towards the east from Media. It is thought to owe its 
name to Ashur, the son of Shem; and what this name 
has in common with that of Syria, caused it to be some- 
times transferred to the Syrian nation, whose origin re- 
fers to Aram, also descended from Shem. The name 
of Kurdistan, which modern geography applies to ^ssy' 
ria, comes from a people who, under that of Carduc/ii, 
or Gordycei, from the earliest antiquity, occupied the 
mountains by which the country is covered on the side 
of Arrnenia and Atrofmtena. From their name is also 
derived that of Kurdes, now much diffused over differ- 
ent cantons of the country.— We know that from the 
remotest antiquity the Assyrian monarchy extended over 
a great part of Asia, till the fall of that empire, about 
seven hundred years before the Christian sera. But al- 
though this power appears to have been destroyed by 
the Medes,. while Babylon .forrhed at the same time a 
separate kingdom, many kings mentioned in the Scrip- 
lures evince a second dynasty in Assyria. 

This country is traversed in its whole breadth by a 
considerable river named Zabus, or, according to Xeno- 
phon, Zabatua, and otherwise Zerbis. It was called Ly- 
cusf or the wolf by the Greeks; but it has re-assumed 
its primitive denomination of Zub, or, according to some 



216 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



modern travellers, Zarb. This river appears nearly 
equal to the Tigris, into which it falls a little above a 
position whose name of Ghilon was anciently Aloni.—m 
Farther down, another river named Zabus Minor, and 
called by the Macedonians Ca/irus, or the Boar, is also 
received by the Tigris, and now called by the Turks 
Altunsou, which in their language signifies the River 
of Gold. — Assyria is sometimes named ^/unc, although 
this name was proper only to a particular canton of the 
country in the environs of Nineveh. — There is also 
mention of the name of yldiabene, as having supplanted 
that of Assyria, notwithstanding that it was distinguished 
ds belonging only to a pariicular country which Assyria 
comprehended. — Corduene was one of those countries 
towards the northern mountains; and it was annexed to 
the empire under Dioclesian, with many other cantons, 
as Moxocne, Arzan.ne, and Zabdicene. These, in con- 
sequence of the failure of Julian's expedition, his suc- 
cessor was obliged to restore to the king of Persia. 
And Adiabene, conquered by Trajan many years before 
from the Parthians, relapsed almost as soon under the 
power of its former possessors. 

Nineveh, or, according to the oriental formule, JYiri' 
eve, constructed by Ninus subsequently to Babylon, and 
on a more spacious plan, if ,we may credit Strabo, was 
destroyed by the Medes leagued with the Babylonians 
against the Assyrian Empire. But this city being men- 
tioned as the residence of many Assyrian kings posteri- 
or to this empire, it must be supposed while in a second 
state of existence. It may be doubted whether it ever 
fell under the dominion of the Persians: for though 
near the Tigris in their return, the ten thousand, be- 



CHAP. n. ASIA. 217 



tween the Zab and the mountains of the Carducians, 
met with the two desolated Median cities oi Larisaa and 
Mesfiila^ yet there is no mention of Nineveh. We must 
therefore conclude it to have been seated in the conca- 
vity of a sudden flexure described by the Tigris, and 
consequently without the line of their course. Howe- 
ver, there is mention made of JVinus, as existing in an 
age less remote; and we are even assured of its site by 
vestiges on the Tigris, opposite the position of Mo- 
sul, retaining the name of Nino, independently of d par- 
ticular place which the memory of the prophet Jonah 
renders venerable to the people of the country. — dlrde- 
la, whose name has a plural signification, is represented 
as the principal city of Miabene, and is still in existence 
under the name of Erbil, The final victory of Alexan- 
der over Darius has rendered this place famous; though 
the actual field of battle was at Gaugamela, nearer to 
the Tigris, and on the opposite side of the Zab to Ar- 
bela. — The Bumadus, which Alexander met with after 
having passed the Tigris, is now known by the name of 
Hazir-sou, which is communicated by a place situated 
at the confluence of this river and the Zab. It is said 
.of Gaugamela, the name whereof signifies the Habita- 
tion of the Camel, that in this place Darius Hystaspes 
had affected to entertain the camel that carried his per- 
sonal camp equipage in his Scythian expedition. — -At 
some distance from the little Zab, towards the moun- 
tains, we discover in the modern name of Kerkouk the 
position of a place which, appearing under that of De- 
?netrias in Strabo, may be the Corcura of Ptolemy. We 
have already remarked that it is not extraordinary to 
find two names fqr the same place in these countries; 



218 ASIA. CHAP. II- 



ASSYRIA. 



one iJ iven by the Macedonian conquerors; the other na- 
tive and original, and which has commonly prevailed. 
This position is singularly identified by the mention that 
Strabo makes of the springs of naphtha, and the fires 
eniitied by a hill in the environs of Demetrius: for these 
phaenomena are observed near Kerkouk: the burning 
hill itself retaining the name of Korkour, which is 
scarcely an altei'ation of Cercura.— Farther on, the city 
named Siazuros, in the account of an expedition of He- 
raclius in this country is easily recognised in Sherzour, 
the capital of a particular government on this frontier 
of the Turkish empire.— In re-approaching the Tigris, 
the Garamai, who were a people of Assyria, according 
to Ptolemy, are found under the name of Garm: and 
the principal city on the bank of the river, formerly 
named Carcha^ preserves the na.vie of Ktirk, though the 
place is commonly called Eski-Bagdad, or Old Bagdad, 
the metropolitan see of Garm. Tracing the retreat of 
the Roman army in the expedition of Julian, we find 
Carcha an intermediate situation between Sumere and 
Dura — Sumere is still called Samera; and in the ninth 
century it became considerable by the residence of se- 
veral Khalifs, under whose dominion it is found distin- « 
guished by the Arabic name of Seramen-rai, alluding to 
the specious and alluring aspect of this dwelling. — Dura 
is distinguished by the name of the sepulchre of a reve- 
red" personage preceding the local denomination; as 
Imam Mohammed Dour. — There is mention of Ofiis, 
as being near the entrance of a river in the Tigris, 
whose name is Physcus in Xenophon, appears under 
the name of Torna in the march of Heracleus, and of 
Odorneh in the modern geography. There is every 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 219 



reason to believe that the city which Pliny fixes between 
the Tigris and the Tornadohis^ and to which Alexander 
remounted by the Tigris to remove obstacles that im- 
peded his designs, is this identical Ofiis^ which assumed 
the name of Antiochia under the Seleucides. And as 
the position of Ofiis was above the retrenchment that 
we have spoken of in treating of Mesopotamia, as sepa- 
rating it from Babylon, we may yet descend the Tigris 
without risking an encroachment on the contiguous coun- 
try.— At this height, but distant from the vwqv Artemi- 
ta. was a Greek city, on a stream whose name, which is 
sometimes written SzV/a, should rather be called Delas;' 
the modern form whereof is Diala. It is said that this city 
had another name than that which it held of the Greeks: 
and, as its position, by actual observation of the country, 
falls on a place called Dascara, with the surname of el- 
Melik, or the Royal, retaining vestiges of magnificent 
edifices withal, it is reasonable to suppose it the same 
with Dastagerda.) mentioned in the Byzantine history as 
possessing a splendid palace, inhabited by Chosroes, and 
which was destroyed by Heraclius, in retaliation for 
some devastations that the provinces of the Greek em- 
pire had suffered from this king of Persia. — Still far- 
ther from the rivei', A/iollonia communicated its name 
to a particular canton; and this city is now represented 
by the position of Shereban. — Beyond the territory of 
Afiollonia, and towards the passage of Mount Zagros, is 
a country distinguished in the name of Chalo7iitis, by an 
author who has described the provinces of the Parthian 
empire. But the situation of this country becomes am- 
biguous, when it is found elsewhere that C(esiphon, o{ 
which we shall speak in treating of Babylon, is a city of 



I- 



220 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

S£CT. VII. BABYLONIA. 

Chalonitis. — To conclude what concerns Assyria, a posi- 
tion given by the name oi ^Ibana is known .to be that of 
Holuan, near the mountains which form the boundary of 
Media. 



SECTION SEVENTH. 
BABYLONIA, 

IRAK, 

From the limits which it has seemed expedient to give 
to Mesopotamia and Assyria, Babylonia extends both on 
the Euphrates and Tigris to the Persian Gulf^ by which 
it is terminated towards the south; confining with ^ro' 
bia Destrta on the west, and with Susiana on the east. 
The name of Chaldean which is more precisely appro-, 
priated to the part nearest to the giilf, is sometimes em- 
ployed as a designation of the entire country; and the 
greatest part of it being comprehended between the w- 
vers, has given occasion to extend to it the name of 
Mesopotamia, It is this country which the Arabs naiiie 
properly Irak; and it is by the extension that this name 
has taken, in penetrating into ancient Media, that the 
^art contiguous to Babylonia is called Irak Arabi. 

The proximity of the rivers towards the confines of 
Mesopotamia, in a country whose supeifices is extreme- 
ly uniform, had given occasion to the opening of many 
canals, that convey the waters of the Euphrates towards 
the Tigris; and which still appear, according to the ac- 
counts of travellers, though without water. The first 
we have to speak of had ks issue near a city named Sip-. 
Jiora: and this must be believed the JVar-raga of Pliny, 
since he cites it as being adjacent to Hippara, which 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 221 

SECT. VII. BABYLONIA. 

appears to be the same city as that just mentioned. The 
canal named J\''ahr-Sares is known to be that called Nar- 
Sarsar. But the greatest was the Kar-Malcha^ Fluvius 
Regum, or the River of Kings, which joined the Tigris 
near Seleucia. Repaired by Trajan in his expedition 
against the Parthians, it had again become dry, when 
Julian returned the waters of the Euphrates into it, but 
which no longer flow — Adhering to the course of this 
river, we find it enveloping by several implications, a 
city whose name of Peri'Saboi-as^ in an expedition of 
Julian, is after the oriental form of Firuz Sapor. But it 
is more commonly knov/n by the name of Anbarj and 
the first khalif of the house of Abbas, in the eighth 
century, made it his residence. — It may be observed 
that the name of Anbar, which in Arabic signifies pro- 
perly a magazine of provisions, has great affinity with 
that qf Aiicobaritis^ which we find in Ptolemy as proper 
to a particular canton of this country.— At the samfe 
height, but nearer to the Tigris, is the position which 
Sitace ought to take, a city considerable enough to have 
communicated the name of Sitacene to the circumjacent 
country. As we learn from Xenophon that the Greeks 
met with this city before they passed the Tigris, it must 
be erroneously placed in Ptolemy far beyond that river. 
Vestiges of it form a small eminence called Karkuf, 
which some travellers have mistaken for the remains of 
Babylon. — Bagdad, not far from this, is a city of Islam- 
ism, and of later date, placed at first by al-Mansor, the 
second of the Abbassides, on the right bank of the Ti- 
gris, in a place called by the Turks Kushlar-Kalasi, or 
the Castle of Birds; and afterwards transferred to the 
U 



222 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

BABYLONIA. SECT. VIT. 

opposite side of the river, where it now flourishes. Dig- 
nified under the Khalifat with the title of Medinet-as- 
Salam, or the City of Peace, it is cited by the writers of 
the Lower Empire in the name of Irenofiolisf which in 
Greek has the same signification. — It was a little lower, 
in the territory of a place named Cache, on the right 
bank of the Tigris, that Seleucus Nicator, having in view 
the depopulation of Babylon, founded a city to be, un- 
der the name of Seleucia, the capital of the east. The 
same motive with respect to Seleucia, induced the Par- 
thian monarchs to erect on the other side of the river, 
almost opposite to the ancient site of Coche, a new city, 
under the name of Ctesiphon, which became their ordi- 
nary residence. Hence what we find denominated in 
the oriental geography al-Modain, or the Two Cities, 
represents Seleucia and Ctesiphon; and in this last the 
ruins of an ancient edifice are called Takt-Kesra, or the 
•Throne of Chosroes. — Babylon, the most ancient city in 
the world, founded by Belus, who is thought to have 
been the same as Nimrod, embellished by Semiramis, 
and long after by Nabuchodonosor, was bisected by the 
course of the Euphrates from north to south. Its extent 
formed an equilateral square, whose sides subtended 
the four Cardinal Points of the Great Circle. The men- 
suration attributed to its circumference, and on which 
the ancients are not agreed, as three hundred and sixty, 
or four hundred and eighty stadia, has given occasion to 
estimate it rather as a region of country, than the possi-- 
ble extent of a city, for want of proper distinction in th^ 
length of the stadium einployed therein. It will appearj 
on the result of a valuation founded on the greatest pro( 
babilities, that tjje extent of Babylon, which was nevej 



CHAP, II. ASIA. 223 



BABYLONIA. 



fiUe'J >vith habitations, is to be estimated in relation to 
Paris as five to two.* This superb city had fallen into 
such a state of decay under the Parthians, that what its 
"Walls comained was only a lari^e park, serving for their 
kint^s to take the pleasures of the chase. However, 
some vesriges of it remain. The foundation of the tem- 
ple of Belus is still a ponderous niass of nnasonry, 
wherein is recognised the same disposition of ground- 
plan that is found in the walls uf ihe city. And in ano- 
ther part the remains of walls in squaies of bricks, ce- 
mented with bitumen, and indurated by time, corres- 
pond with the situation which antiqiiity gives to the pa- 
lace of its kings, and are called by the Jews of the coun- 
try the prison of Nabuchodonosor. — The name of Babil, 
we may also observe, is preserved in the place. — Among 
the kings of Parthia of the name of Vologeses, he who 
was contemporary with Nero and Vespasian, construct- 
ed, at some distance from Babylon, a city to which he 
gave the nam.e of Vologesia. It was situated on a canal, 
drawn from the right of the Euphrates; and which is 
not the Nar-Sares, as appears in Ptolemy, whose map 
extravagantly errs in depicting the courses of rivers. 
This derivation is above the position of Babylon, and 
corresponds with that known to lead to Meshed Hosein, 



* If London is to Paris as 41 to 29, and Paris to Babylon as 
2 to 5, Babylon must exceed London by about seven ninths. 
But if it be considered that, like most ancient cities in the east- 
ern division of Asia, its walls inclosed pasture-ground for the 
cattle, to be consumed during a siege, it may well be question- 
ed whether the inhabited part of it ever exceeded London in its 
present extent. 



224 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

BABYLONIA. SECT. VII. 

where it expands in a pool, which may be the remains 
of the great lake said to have been excavated for the 
purpose of preserving Babylon from inundations, when 
the snow melts on the mountains which cover the sour- 
ces of the Euphrates. The tomb of Hosein, son of AH, 
of the family of Mohammed, may have caused the 
change of name in this place. — Another canal, derived 
from the same bank of the Euphrates, but below Baby- 
lon, and whose aperture Alexander caused to be repaired, 
was named Pallacofia. It is now absorbed in a morass 
called Rahemah, at the extremity of which a city bore 
the name of Alexandria. This city was known by the 
name of Hira.^ when it became the residence of the Ara- 
bian princes who served the Persians and Parthians 
against the Romans; and called in history by the general 
name of Alanmndari, after the name al-Mondar, com-^ 
men to many of these princes at the fall of their dynasty 
in the first age of the Mohammedan, A similar cause 
to that which operated on the name of Vologesia, has in- 
duced the mutation of this also. The body of Ali, who 
had been assassinated in Kufa (a place but a few mileS 
distant, and long since abandoned,) was interred in Hira. 
which, from the sepulchre of this khalif, came to be 
called Meshed- Ali. 

In returning to the Euphrates, Borsippa^ or, accx)rd- 
ing to Ptolemy, Barsita, was a city distinguished by a 
particular sect of the Chaldeans, whose name denotes 
rather the persons and ministers of a religious faith, ^j 
than the inhabitants of any particular district of country. 
It is remarkable on this subject, to find near the Euphra- 
tes a city named Semavat, or Celestial: and a principal 
arm of the river, called Wadi-Ussema, or the River of i 



CHAP. IL ASIA. 



325 



BABYLONIA. 



Heaven — Below the former position, Sura, where the 
Jews had a school which rivalled that of Neharda, sub- 
sists under the same name Thence we shall follow 

the Euphrates to its junction with the Tigris. In the 
angle formed by this confluence was a city to which are 
referred two several names, as to many others in these 
oriental countries: J/iamea^ in Ptolemy; Digba, in Pli- 
ny: and if Ptoleiny, by a position Avhose name he writes 
Z>zV/2jf«a, appears to give two different cities, it is only by 
a similar error to that wherein he falls in distinguishing 
Chalybon from lieroea in Syria. This position is occu- 
pied by a fortress, whose name of Korna expresses in 
Arabic a point resembling a horn. — What the Tigris 
furnishes to observation below Ctesiphon, regards a river, 
named Gyndea* It descends, according to Herodotus, 
frorh the mountains of Mantiene, or Matiane, in the 
northern part of Media, and is received into the Tigris. 
Cyrus, finding it on his passage, divided it into three- 
hundred and sixty channels. The Gyndes, reduced to 
nothing by the number of drains which it suffered from 
Cyrus, has at length re-assumed its course to the Ti- 
gris; and its entrance into this river is called Foum-el- 
Saleh, or the Mouth of Peace, in the Arabic language. 
The name given to it by the Turks in the places whence 
it issues, is Kara-Sou, or the Black River — A position 
named Jracca, on this eastern side of the Tigris, attracts 



* This name of Gyndes, or, as Tacitus expresses it, Gi7ides, 
in describing a river of Aria, is the same as Zeindeh, in the 
Persian language denoting (as that passing by Ispahan) a river 
which revives after having disappeared. 



ASIA. CHAP. 11 



BABYLONIA. 



the attention of the learned, by reason of the affinity in 
its name with that of £rec/i, mentioned in the Old Tes- 
tament among the cities constructed by Nimrod. — But 
we must not omit remarking, that there was a time 
when the Euphrates had its own mouth separately from 
that of the Tigris; and it was in existence when the 
fleet of Alexander ascended from the sea towards Baby- 
lon. The term of the navigation of the sea from flie 
river Indus was a place named Biridotis, otherwise 7>- 
redoriy at the head of the Persian Gulf, which receives 
the Tigris and Euphrates. Accompanying a modern 
traveller in the route of Basra, towards the west, there 
will be found the ancient bed of the river, now dry. — 
The Orcheni, inhabiting a city named Orc/ice, caused 
the diminution of the Euphrates, by deriving it through 
their lands, which could not otherwise be watered. This 
city was one of the principal of Chaldea, and the centre 
of a considerable sect of those doctors to whom the name 
of Chaldeans is applied. It is believed that its situation 
is found in the place now named Drahemia and Dgiam- 
Ali, on a canal, which, issuing from the Tigris a little 
above the position of Basra, conducts to this city, whose 
foundation,* under the khalifat of Omar, caused the de- 
population of the circumjacent places; and it is thus 
that a great intermediate deposit of merchandise, whose 
name of Jfwlogi is scarcely discernible in the modern 
form of Oboleh, a little below the aperture of the canal 
jusl mentioned, has transferred this advantage to Basra. 
— The lower part of the course of the Tigris from the 
junction of the Euphrates, was called Pasitigrhi and 
this i.s what is now named Shatul-Arab, or the Ri\er o£ 
the Arabs. We see that, in the time of Alexander, this 



CHAP. II, ASIA. 227 

SECT. VIII. PERSIA. 

river only communicated with the sea after traversing a 
pool or moor, called the Chaldean ntiorass: and in sea- 
sons .of spring tides, by which the army of Trajan suf- 
fered in his eastern expedition, this sunken land is still 
inundated, — The land which the canal of Basra (hereto- 
fore descending to the sea) and the Pasitigris inclosed, 
was called Mesene, as being between two arms of the 
river. And in the oriental writers, who speak of the 
churches subjected to the Nestorian Catholicos of Se- 
leucia, this insulated shred of country is called Perat- 
Miscan, or the Mesene of the Euphrates^ to distinguish 
it from the Mesene of the Tigris just mentioned. — We 
shall conclude this article with remarking, that, as the 
Eulcsusy a river of Susiana, approached the left or east- 
ern bank of the Pasitigris, there was a communication 
opened between them, which is still navigated. An Arab 
prince (named Spacines) having there constructed a 
Tampart on a mound raised by human labour, this place 
was named S/iasini Charax. But it will belong to Susi- 
ana rather than to Babylon, if we take the course of the 
Pasitigris for the separation of these countries. 

SECTION EIGHTH. 
PERSIA, 
khozesTan or chosisTan, and pars* 
Persia extends from the frontier of Media on the 
■north, southward to the gulf which from it is called Si- 
nus Persicus. It is separated from Babylonia by the 
Tigris on the west, and is bounded on the east by Car- 

* Provinces of Present Persia. 



228 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

PERSIA. SECT. Vlir. 

mania. Its name in Scripture is Paras, which is nearly 
the same with that of Fars, according to its modern 
form, as the permutation in the initial of P to F\p fre- 
quent in this country, where Is/?ahan, for example, is 
pronounced Is/ahan. Elam, son of Shem, is the parent 
of this nation, according to the holy text. It remained 
in obscurity till the time of Cyrus, who extended his 
dominion over the most considerable part of Asia that 
Avas known, from the river Indus to the Egean Sea; sub- 
jecting to the patrimony of his ancestors as well the 
kingdom of Babylon, as whatever the domination of the 
Medes had comprehended westward to the river Halys; 
and annexing to it also the kingdom of Lydia beyond 
that river. This empire, to which Cambyses, son of 
Cyrus, added Egypt, subsisted not much more than two 
ages, when it was conquered by Alexander, after whose 
death the eastern provinces fell to the lot of Seleucus 
Nicator; and his successors in Syria lost these provin- 
ces to the Parthians. But, under the dominion of these 
last, Persia had its particular kings; and in an enumera- 
tion which we have of the provinces of their empire, 
neither Persm, nor the adjacent country of Carmania^ve 
fovmd comprised. The Persian princes were neverthe- 
less in a state of dependence till the third century. A 
Persian, who took the nyme of Artaxerxes, shook off' 
the yoke of the Parthians, and transferred their power 
to the Persians, who enjoyed it about four hundred 
years, till the invasion of the Arabs, under the first kha- 
llfs, successors of Muhamnied. The ancient renown of 
Persia, which a second dynasty renewed, has main- 
tained the name of this empire, as a general term in 
geography, applied to all that country which from the 



CHAP. 11. ASIA. 229 

SECT. VIII. PERSIA, 

limits of the Turkish domination extends eastward to 
Hindoostan. Susiana and Perais^ or Persia Profier^ com- 
plete the general term ot PEksiA; and witlr the former 
province which first presents itself, we enter upon the 
detail of particular objects. 

Susiana. Susiana, whose name is now Khozestanj 
participates the situation of Persia, as being contained 
within the limits of Media and the Persian Gulf It con- 
fines with Babylon in the neighbourhood of the Tigris; 
and the river Oroates, which is also found under the 
name of Pasitigj-is, and called Tab in the modern geo- 
graphy, separates it from Persia Proper on the borders 
of the gulf. — The name of Elymais takes a great extent 
in Susiana, being as well applied to the northern and 
mountainous division, as to the maritime part, which is 
flat and moorish. But the first is more agreeable to the 
situation of the Elymxi-, who are mentioned as having a 
prince independent both of the Macedonians of Syriai 
and the Parthians.— Another country of Susiana, and 
which comprised the capital, according to Herodotus, 
was named Cissia. The middle of the country is traver- 
sed by the river Euleus, which is Ulai in Daniel; and 
which, taking also the name of Choasfies., pierces, before 
arriving at Susa the capital, a mountain, whose name of 
Koh-asp signifies in Persian the Mountain of the Horse. 
We read that the kings of Persia drink no other water 
than that of this river. Its true source, above its issue 
from the Koh-asp, is in the Koh-zerdeh, or the Yellow 
Mountain, from whose opposite side springs the Zein- 
dehrud, or the river of Ispahan. After having directed 
its course very obliquely towards the Pasitigris, with 
which this river has an artificial communication, it turns 



230 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

PERSIA. SECT. VIII. 

suddenly, and discharges itself into the Persian Gulf by 
many mouths, taking from a modern place on its banks 
the name of Karun. — Susa^ from whose name is formed 
that of the province, appears also under tlie plural form 
of Susan, which in the languatiC of the country signifies 
Lilies. It was the winter dwelling of the Persian kings, 
the great heats of the summer rendering Ecbatana the 
more agreeable residence during this season It is now 
commonly called Tuster, or. with more conformity to its 
original name, Suster. A city now in ruins, but heretofore 
considerable, and whose vulgar name of Ahwaz was ex- 
tended by the Arabs to all the Khozesian, would appear 
to preserve in that of Hus (by which it is known to the 
Syiians) some analogy to the name of Chusii, or O'sw, 
mentioned as a people of Susiana, as well as of the par- 
ticular canton called Cissia. — The mountains which co- 
vered the country on the north, were occupied by peo- 
ple who acknowledged no superior; for, to the Elyme- 
ans must be joined the Cosscei, who, by a situation confi- 
ning on Media, are sometimes comprehended in it.— 
The Ux:ii were placed on the frontiers of Persia; and 
Alexander, to open himself a way, was obliged, notwith- 
standing the asperity of the places, to reduce this nation. 
Their name may be perceived in the modern denomi- 
nation of Asciac, particularly appropriated to this can- 
ton, which concludes what we have to say concerning 
Susiana. We may add, however, that the whole extent 
of this mountainous ^region is now named LoAristan, 
and that the people inhabiting it are called Lo6r and 
Baktiari. 

Persis. We enter now upon the description of Per- 
sis, or Persia properly so called, which is separated from 



CHAP. n. ASIA. 231 



SECT. VIII. 



Susiana on the westj by the Oroates or Tab, as above 
stated. — The mountainous country which we have seen 
making the northern part of Susiana, continues to the 
centre of Fersis. It becomes very even on the frontier 
of the Kirman; and the maritime country is also plain. 
Its principal rivers, Praxes, and Medus, after uniting 
their streams, lose, themselves in a lake of salt water, 
with which the ancient geographers were unacquainted, 
but whose modern name is Bakteghian. A dyke raised 
by some prince to contain the first of these rivers, has 
caused it to be called Bend-Emir. The second appe'xrs 
to be that which towards its source is named Abi-Kuren, 
or the Avater of Kur; which Shah Abbas undertook to 
turn into the river of Ispahan, by cutting through a 
mountain. The Cyrus of which Strabo speaks, as ha- 
ving its course in Ccele-Persis, or concave Persia, through 
the Pasargades, cannot be the Abi-Kuren, from the 
manner in which he mentions the Medus, more resem- 
bling it in its circumstances. — One must pass the Praxes 
of Persia, as the same author says Alexander did in his 
march, to arrive at Fersepolis, whose magnificent ruins 
are well known a little beyond' the Bend-Emir. The 
denomination, purely Greek, of Fersefiolis, conceals 
from us the native name, which might be the same with 
that of Estakar, under which the Persians of the present 
day recognise this place; but which, more apparent in 
its ruins, is commonly Called Tchel-minar, or the Forty 
Columns, figuratively for an indefinite number. — Shiraz 
has taken, in Pars, the rank which Persepolis anciently 
held; and though the writers since the time of Moham- 
med refer the foundation of this city to the year of the 
Hegira seventy-six, reporting withal that it received 



232 ASIA. CHAP. U. 

PERSIA. SECT. VIII. 

great augmentations in the fourth century of the same 
3era, yet its situation is too advantageous for us to be- 
lieve that such had been formerly neglected. In seek- 
ing then to give it a place in antiquity, it may be re- 
marked that the name of Corra, applied to a Persian 
city by Ptolemy, is the same with that of the river which 
passes through this, or Correm-dere: the last member 
of it being only the general designation of a current of 
water. It is to be observed that this does not fall into 
the Persian Gulf, as we see in some mapsj but, like the 
united Araxes and Medus, expands itself in a moor, 
whose waters are sZL\t.-—Pasa7-gada was the ancient roy- 
al city of the Persians. A particular people who took 
the name of it, were distinguished for comprehending 
the tribe or family of the Achaemenides, the most illus- 
trious of the nation, and from whom Cyrus was de- 
scended. Cyrus had there his tomb; and a city whicji 
preserves the name of Pasa, or P'asa, with the surname 
of Kuri, according to the Persians, shows us the posi- 
tion of Pasargades, or Pasagardas; for the name is also 
thus written. — The mountains which cover the north of 
this country were occu'^ied by the Parxtaceni; and it is 
remarked that a neighbouring canton to Ispahan is na- 
med Perhauer. That which is called Hetzardara, or 
the Thousand Mountains, may answer to the Parchoa- 
tras, which, according to Ptolemy, separates Persia 
from Media. — The nameof./^*/2arfa«a, among the cities 
which he gives to Persia, has too much affinity with that 
of Ispahan to permit any doubt of its identity: though it 
may be observed of this city, which the great Shah Ab- 
bas made his capital, that it is beyond the mountains 
which constitute the modern limits of Fars. — Pliny 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 233 

SECT. IX. CARMANIA ET GEDEOSIA. 

speaks of a city under the name of Ecbatana, as a place 
occupied by the Magi: a circumstance that attracts our 
attention to a place called Gnerden, where the Ghebres, 
or ancient Parsis, preserving the worship of fire, have a 
priest of superior dignity charged with the office of pre- 
serving a pyre perpetually burning on an adjacent 
mountain. It is remarked that Elburz, the name of the 
mountain, is common to many other places consecrated 
to this object of superstition. — In the name of lezed, on 
th«K frontier of the Kerman, may be recognised that of 
Isatichxt though- placed in Carmauia by Ptolemy. — 
There remains something to be said of the maritime 
part of Persia. A royal residence, under the name of 
Taoce^ at some distance from the sea, is indicated by 
the name of Taug in tiie oriental geography. — The li- 
mits between Persia and Carmania, on the coast of the 
Gulf, were fixed by Nearchus, admiral of Alexander's 
fleet, to be opposite to a neighbouring isle, whose name 
of Catea is recognised under the modern form of Keish, 
or Cais. This isle, though of no great extent, was re- 
marbable for being a great emporium, before this ad- 
vantage was transferred to Ormus. 

SECTION NINTH. 
CARMANIA ET GEDROSIA, 

KERMAN, AND MEKRAN. 

Carmania. Carmania, succeeding Persia towards 
the east, preserves in its extent the same parallels of la- 
titude, Ptolemy, encroaching on Gedrosia, exaggerates 
the dimensions of Carmania far beyond the limits as- 
X 



k 



234 ASIA. CHAP. If 

CARMANIA ET GEDROSIA. SECT. IX 

signed to it in the relation of Nearohus; who, coastinj^ 
these countries, fixes as a term of division a promontory 
named Car/iella^ which is indubitably Cape Jask; ar.d 
recognising moreover for the first place in Carmanhu 
coming from the mouths of the Indus, that which, un- 
der the name of Badis, he indicates as adjacent. — The 
objects that antiquity offers to observation in Carmaniu, 
are for the most part limited to the sea-coast. Hanno- 
zia, now represented by Gomron, or Bender Abbassi,. 
was an ancient position on the continent, before the re- 
treat of its inhabitants to a little island in the vicinity, 
which happened on the invasion of the country by tlir 
Moguls, in the thirteenth century. — This isle, called 
Gerun, is mentioned in antiquity under the name of 
Ogyris, and is said to have contained the tomb of king 
Erythras, who is pretended to have given his name to 
the Erythrean Sea, The people that this desert isle ve;- 
ceived, communicated to it the name of their primitive 
dwelling; and, notwithstanding that an insulated groundj 
of small extent, covered with salt, destitute of fresh wa- 
ter, was but a dreary habitation; we know that, by its ad- 
vantageous situation for a mart of Indian commerce, it 

became the once flourishing state of Ormus The ; 

greatest island of the Persian Gulf, near Ormus, an<l 
separated from the continent only by a narrow channel, 
is Kismis, otherwise called Vroct; and it preserves in 
the last of these names that of Oaracta, which we find 
attributed to it by the ancients.— The isles that appear 
under the names of Tyrun -AnA Aradus are, one Ormus, 
and the other Arek. — In the interior country, where 
modern geography finds many cities, we can only indi- \ 
cate Carmania as referring to antiquity, and in those 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 335 

CAKMANIA ET CEDROSIA. SECT. IX. 

ages designated as the capital. This city preserves, as 
well as the country itself, the name of Kerman, though 
it is also known by the name of Sirjan. — Ptolemy distin- 
guishes the northern part of the country by the qualifi- 
cation of the DcHsrt Varmania; and the name of ModO' 
inarsitce., which he gives as a canton of it, is found in the 
modern name of Mastih, which we find appropriated- to 
a particular place. 

Gedrosia. Let us now pass to Gedrosia, which 
from the limits of Carmania extends to India; and from 
the shore of the gulf stretches inland to Arachosia, of 
which we shall presently speak, in treating of Aria. — 
This country is now called Mckran. What an army of 
Alexander suffered here, in returning from India, aftords 
a most disadvantageous idea of this country; and it ap- 
pears that the same distresses, from want of provisions 
and.water,and from columns of moving sand, had long be- 
fore proved the destruction of the armies of Semiramis 
and Cyrus. All the maritime part had for inhabitanis Ich- 
thyofihagi^ or Feeders on Fish; the skins of the largest 
\v hereof served them for clothing, while the ribs contribu- 
ted to the construction of their cabins. — The navigation 
cf the fleet of Alexander has furnished a numerous detail 
of positions on this shore. Of these a principal one is Ti- 
iz, which represents the Tisa of Ptolemy. — Retreating 
from the sea, we find Fura, the ancient capital of Ge- 
drosia, preserving its name in that of Purg, or Foreg. 
This was the termination of the toilsome march of Alex- 
ander towards the frontier of Carmania.— ^The name of 
Kidje, by which the place of residence of a prince of the 
country is called; may be that called C/iodda by Ptole- 
■«ny. — In the position of Ermajil, we are inclined to riiink 



11 



236 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



that we discover Rambacia, which Alexander found in 
his route before passing a defile of mountains, M'hich 
would appear the Parsici Monies of Ptolemy. — The na- 
tion of Oriiis find their name in that of Haur, and the 
Arabita in Araba. — A cubton named Sanguda^ contigu- 
ous to the mouth of the Indus, is that-of the Sanganes, 
known by their inhospitable treatment of strangers who 
have the misfortune to fall into their hands. 



SECTION TENTH. 
MEDIA, 

IRAK'AyAMIi AND ADERBICIAN. 

Media is separated on the north from Arme7iia by 
the Araxesy and then bounded by the southern shore of 
the Caspian Sea. Persis and Susiana are the countries 
contiguous to it on the south; Assyria on the west, and 
Aria ou the east. A part of this country is mountainous, 
especially that on the side of Assyria,, whence arose the 
distinction by the Arabic name of al-Gebel, or the 
mountain. And a ridge that reigns to the south of the 
Caspian Sea, bounds a vast plain, a great part of which, 
being covered with salt, is uncultivated and desert. The 
name of Irak, with the surname Ajami, that is to say, 
Persian Irak, to distinguish it from the Irak Arabi, 
which is Babylonia, extends atprcsent over a great part 
of ancient Media. We know that there was a time when 
the Medes, having shaken off the Assyrian yoke, ruled 
over that part of Asia which extended towards the west 
as far as the river Halys; but we know very little of the 
commencement of their monarchy. 



^illAP. II. ASIA. 23? 



Atropatena. The part of Media contiguous lo 
Armenia Avas distinguished by the name oi ^4(rofiatena, 
fiom that of Atropaies, satrap of this particular pro- 
vinccj who, in the dissensions which reigned among the 
Macedonian generals after the death of Alexander, ren- 
dered himself independent, and took the title of king, 
uhich his successors enjoyed for many ages. The name 
now given to this country is Aderbigian, from the Per- 
sian term Ader signifying fire; according to the tradi- 
tion that Zerdust, or Zoroaster, lighted a pyre or tem- 
ple of fire in a city named Urniiah, of this his native 
country. We find also in an Arabian geographer the 
name of Alrib-kan, in which it is easy to recognise 
Alropatena. — The capital is named Gaza, or Gazaca, 
and its posiiion is that of Tebriz, or, as it is more com- 
monly pronounced, Tauris: which nevertheless among 
tlie Armenians bears the name of Ganzak. In the ac- 
count of the expedition of Heraclius against the Per- 
sians, there is mention, under the name of I'hebamiaiy 
i)f a city which there is reason to take for Urmiah 
though its orthography be not conformable to that of 
places in the ancient geography. Between Tebriz and 
tins city, a great salt-water lake which is named Sfiau- 
ta in Strabo, is Capoton in the Armenian geography. 
Ilulakou-Khan, grandson to Genghiz, and who abolished 
the khalifat in the thirteenth century, amassed the spoils 
of a part of Asia in a fortress insulated by this lake; and 
he caused to be erected, at the neighbouring city of 
ISIaraga, an observatory, from which Nasir-uddin, a uis- 
tinguished astronomer among the orientals, was appoint- 
ed to rtlake observations. 

X 2 



23& ASIA. CHAP. 



n. 1 



Great Media. A lake given by Ptolemy, in the 
name of Mdrcianes^ can be found only in the above, be- 
cause the country affords no other. And if we read it 
Matianes, we shall find it communicating this name to 
a neighbouring province which is Matiana in Strabo, 
and Mantinea in Herodotus. Ptolemy derives from this 
lake a stream, which conducts into the river Amai'dits^ 
that has its mouth in the Caspian Sea; but the lake of 
Capotan, though it receives rivers, renders none; and 
the Amardus can only be the Kezil-Ozein, that pierces 
the chaia of mountains which we have described as co- 
tering the southern shore of this sea. It takes its name 
from the Amardi, or Mardi, who in the defiles of almost 
inaccessible mountains maintained a barbarous indepen- 
dence: and this canton is well known, as having served 
for the dwelling of the Assassins who were exterminated 
by Hulakou. This ulterior country, [as regards, Atro- 
paiena, is distinguished in aniiquity by the qualification 
of the Great Media. — It is known that the capital in this 
country, as of the whole Median empire, was Ecbaiana, 
constructed by Dejoces, who was elevated to the regal 
dignity over a people who, before his time, had no re- 
gular or decided form of government. The Persian 
monarchs, and those of the Parthians, made this city 
their retreat during the heats of summer, which were 
excessive both at Susa and Ctesiphon. It is agreed 
withal to refer to Hamadan the site of Ecbatanes; this 
name being used also in the plural — The name of 
Orontes, given to a great mountain in the neighbour- 
hood of this city, is to be developed in the i]^nie of Eru- 
end, which, as well as that of Eluend, it now Bears. — 
On the route which leads from Bagdad to Hamadan, a 



. ;hap. II. ASIA. ssg- 



monument of a remote age, sculptured in a mountain, 
belonged to Semiramis, on the testimony even of anti- 
rinity; and this place bore the name of Bagistana, which 
denotes a garden. — A city of Media, which in dignity 
only yielded to the capital, was Rages, or Ragx. The 
^Macedonian princes gave it the name of Eurofiud, which 
was that of a city in Macedon. Under the Parthian Ar- 
sacides, it took the name oi Arsacia. Its modern name 
of Rei is a form of the primitive, which, familiar in the 
country, has continued in use in this, as in similar in- 
stances, and at length prevailed over the names imputed 
ijy conquerors. This city was once very flourishing un- 
der the Moslems, though much condemned for the in- 
salubrity of its air. It is no longer spoken of but as a 
ruined place. — We would fain indicate the position of 
Praasjia^ which was a place that Antoninus, in his expe- 
(iiiion against the Parthians, besieged without success, 
and whose name in Strabo is Vera. To judge, never- 
theless by the distance given t^ it with regard to the 
Araxes, and by some concomitant circumstances, it is 
supposed to have been between Sultania and Cazuin, 
two cities which cannot claim this antiquity; that owing 
its foundation to a Mogul prince, and this its lustre to 
one of the sophis, although mentioned previously to that 
epoch. — It is in this canton that we must seek the J^y- 
sa Camfii, or the Plains of Nysa, which numerous studs, 
producing a highly esteemed race of horses, rendered 
famous. — Tabas, in the march of Alexander, applies to 
the position of Saua, a city now in ruins — That of 
Komm, which is well known beyond, on the route of Is- 
pahan, appears to represent Choana. — The Caspiet PylXy 
or Caspian Gates, (a famous defile, which affords en- 



240 ASIA. CHAP. H. 



trance to the country towards the south, that environs 
the sea of the same name,) are indubitally known — 
The Tafiuri inhabiting this country, have tjiv-en it the 
name of Tabaristan, though it is otherwise called Ma- 
zandcran. Its principal city Zadra-Carta, has not entire- 
ly lost this name in that of Sari. — The Oelts owed their 
name to Ghilan, a low and miry district, according to the 
proper signification of this name. Among the cities of 
this country, Kurab appears to be an alteration of the 
the name of Cyrojiolus^ a position which Ptolemy places 
on this shore. The Mardus, of which we have spoken, 
is called Ipserud towards its mouth. — But leaving the 
Caspian Gate^s on the left, to advance towards the ex- 
tiemily of Media, we enter a canton at the foot of the 
mountains celebrated under the name of Choara for the 
amejiity of its situation; and it is still named Kailr. — 
Demegan, the principal city of a country named now 
C'omis, and heretofore Comisenc^ is cited under the 
name oi Hecaton-Jiylosy which, referring to the time of 
the Greek domination in these provinces, signifies the 
Hundred Gates; a figurative ex])ression, alluding to the 
numerous routes which diverge from it to the circumja- 
cent country: and when it is found in Ptolemy that this 
extremity of Media was that called Parthiu, having Ile- 
caton-pylos for its capital, it must be understood of the 
time when a people, hitherto but inconsiderable, had ex- 
tended their limits far and wide by the prevailing for- 
tune of their arms. — Here are recognised two parti- 
ticular cantons, Arcicene and Tabiene^ one by the name 
of Ardistan, the other by the name of two neighbouring 
cities, to which that of Tabas is common. 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 241 

SECT. XI. ARIA, &C. 

SECTION ELEVENTH. 

ARIA, BACTRIANA, ET SOGDIANA, 

KHORASAN^ AND USBEC tARtART. 

Aria vel auiana. I lie name of this country is 
propeily that of u parucular provincej and it is by ex- 
tension of its limits, lo comprehend several adjacent 
cantons, that Ariana appears a name distinguished from 
Aria in antiquity. this extension was carried by Stra- 
bo as far as the mouths of the Indus; and its limits are 
described in such a manner as to embrace the frontier of 
Carmania as far as Gedrosia. But, without descending 
thus to the sea, it may be said that the country which 
represents the ancient Ariana^ is that which the Persians 
call Khorasan, because of its relative situation towards 
the rising sun: and the name of Choro-mithrenay in 
which is recognised that of Mithras, the deity of the 
sun, according to the ancient Persians, would corres- 
pond 'vith the situation of the same country, if Ptolemy 
did not apply it to a district of Media less remote than 
Khorasan. 

Aria had a principal city of the same name; and 
when we read that Artacouna, among the nation of the 
Ariiy was the royal residence, the same city is to be un- 
derstood, under a particular and distinctive denomina- 
tion, which extended to all the country in its depen- 
dence. There is also mention of a river called Arius; 
and it may be remarked that Heri-rud, or the river Heri, 
passes by Herat, the capital of the country, and the most 
considerable city of Khorasan.— -Smsw, on the route of 
Alexander, immediately before he arrived at Artacoana, 
preserves its name in Zeuzan. — But the river Arius^ 



242 ASIA. CHAP. II 

ARIA, &.C. SECT. XI 

and a lake called Aria Palus, are subjects of difficulty. 
There is nooiherlake known in all this country than that 
of Zere, so called from a city whose name is found to be 
Zaris in Ctesias. There is mention also of a city named 
Alexandria in Aria, and which is placed by Ptolemy near 
this lake. To judge of its position, it roust be remark- 
ed that Alexander, who from Artacoana enteted the 
country of the Zaranges (of whom we shall presently 
speak.) must have found his passage between the west- 
ern extremity of lake Zere and the neighbouring moun- 
tains. Now it is probable that a route indicated from the 
capital of the Zaranges towards this extremity, led to a 
place of some consideration; and a town of that descrip- 
tion naned Corra, is thus situated. But wherefore is 
not this Alexandria reputed to appertain to Aria, since 
it Was situated on the Aria Palus? We have seen then 
Alexander pass from Aria into an adjacent country, 
whose principal city, named Fro/i/iihasia, preserves in 
the name of Zarang that of the Zarangai, otherwise 
Dranga, who inhabited this country. — The Etymanderj 
known at present by the name of Hindmend, traverses 
this country, to convey into lake Zere what remains of 
its waters, after numerous derivations; and does not de- 
scend northward to the sea, as Ptolemy would represent, 
who seems indeed to have been indifferently instructed 
in the chorography of Aria and its dependencies. — The 
Ariasfia, vviioni succours afforded to Cyrus had caused 
to be distinguished with the surname of Euergette, or 
Benefactors, are still recognised by the name of Der- 
gasp. — Among the provinces of the Parthian empire is 
A?iabon, which following Aria, and preceding the Dran- 
giane, has a great city, whose name of yVirc, or rather 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 243 

SECT. XI. ARIA, &C. 

Para or Part-a, is now pronounced Ferah, by the per- 
hmtation of the initial letter. AH this country is now 
called Segestan; a name probably formed of Sacastiana, 
which the enumeraiion of the Parthian provinces places 
between the Drangianc and Arachosia, deducing this 
name from that of the Scytliian nation of Saca. The 
name of Segcs(ani is also found to belong to a most va- 
lorous troop serving in an army which obeyed a Persian 
monarch of the second empire. 

^•irachosia is a particular country which succeeds the 
Drangiane on the limits of India. Its capital is named 
RocUhage in the oriental geography; and the country, 
Arrakhage, with the article prefixed. — An Alexandria, 
which preserves the name of Scanderie of Arrokhage, 
though otherwise named Vaihend, was constructed in 
this country. — Alexander, who from the Drangiane en- 
tered the Arrokhage, turned afterwards to the north, to 
invade the Bactriane. With this view he passed Mount 
Paro/iamisus, one of the most elevated in Asia; to which 
the Macedonians, to flatter this prince, gave the name 
of Caucasus. The chain of this mountain, which bounds 
Bactriana on one side, bends from the other upon the 
frontier of India: and the country which from it was 
called in antiquity Paro/iamisus, with the Parofiamiaa- 
die who occupied it, belonged rather to India than to 
Ariana. — A place is mentioned by the name of Ortosfia- 
noy or Carura^ immediately preceding the passage of 
this mountain. But the Alexandria constructed beyond 
this passage being Indian by its situation, in treating of 
India we shall take notice of it: and, before entering up- 
on Bactriana, we must survey some adjacent countries 
to Aria, from the west to the north. 



244 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

ARIA, &C. SECT. XI. 

Hyrcania. The limits of Hyrcania are not easily 
determined. To assume as a term the mouth of a river 
named Sideris, where the sea commonly called Caspian 
begins to take, according to Pliny, the name of A/are* 
Hyrcanum^ is to circumscribe it within the angle which 
this sea forms between the east and the south. This 
river of Sideris has not lost its name so totally ^s not to 
be found again in that of Ester, of which the name of 
Ester-Abad, or the ciiy Ester, is formed: and, in the 
oriental pronunciation, Sider and Ester are confounded. 

Zadracarta, mentioned in treating of Media, is quali- 
fied as the royal city of Hyrcania, in the history of Alex- 
ander's expedition; and the position of Sara?nane, given 
to Hyrcania by Ptolemy, is found by the name of Siar- 
man on this Southern shore. But we know that differ- 
ent times prescribe different limits to countries. Ac- 
cording to the recital which we owe to Polibyus of the 
expedition of Antiochus HI, king of Syria, against the 
Parthians, Syringis, which, by the circumstances of this 
narrative is very remote and beyond the mountains, is 
the principal city of Hyrcania; and that which Ptolemy 
gives under the same name oi Hyrcania, appears to be this 
city. Now the actually existent capital of this country 
being Jorjan, according to our pronunciation, is more 
correctly Corcan; in which we may perceive what, ac- 
cording to the orthography of the ancient writers, is 
Hurcan, ov Hyrcania. — In the description of the provin- 
ces of the empire of the Parthians, the country of Hyr- 
cania succeeds immediately to AstabenUf having a city 
■where it is said that the first Arsaces, founder of this 
empire, was proclaimed king. The name of this city is 
read Jsaac: and one may perceive therein the resem- 



CHAP. 1!. ASIA. 245 

SECT. XI. ARIA, &C. 

blance with that of Z a-.> on this frontier. The Da- 
hestan, which is contiguous, cvidemly owes this name * 
to the nation of Daha, which Arsaces governea— The 
Barcanii mentioned in tlie aru ies of the kings of Per- 
sia, retain their name in that of Balkan, which a moun- 
tain and a gulf adjacent still bear. — Afiavaretica was the 
name of an inland province, which retains that of Abi- 
verd, or Baverd — It was of an adjacent canton named 
Parthicne that the name of Parthian, once so illustrious, 
was formed. This canton, under the kings of Persia, 
and the Macedonian princes of Syria, was subordinate to 
Hyrcania, and of little consideration. But the conquests 
of the Parthians extended the name of Varthia to that 
part of Media situated beyond the Caspian Gates.— Par- 
thaunisa^ as it appears in the description already cited of 
this part of the empire of the Parthians, or Msxa., was 
the principal city of Parthiene, and the place of sepul- 
ture for their kings. Nesa is still the name of this city; 
v/ffich, beyond the hiils of Sahar, or the Sariphi of Pto- 
lemy, has befor^ it vast plains, proper for the Parthian 
nomades, or shepherds, as they were characterized. And 
it was thence that the Turkish sultan, ancestor of the 
Ottoman family, departed for the banks of the Euphra- 
tes. — Let us add that a river which flows In the envi- 
rons of Nesa, falls into the Caspian Sea, under the name 
of Ochus in antiquity 
# We have yet to speak of a province which was com- 
. prised in the empire of the Parthians. Margiana, adja- 
cent to Bactriana, lay east of Parthiene, and north of Aria. 
It o-ved its name to the river Margus, which issu s from 
the mountains between Bactriana and Aria; and like the 
Y 



246 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

ARIA, &C. SECT. XI. 

Arius, to which its course is parallel, is absorbed a little 
below the capital on the borders of ihe desert, by which 
a great part of this country is enveloped; the Persians 
preserving its name in Marg-ab. The fertility of a par- 
ticular canton determined Antiochus, son of Seleucus 
Nicator, to inclose it with a rampart of fifteen hundred 
stadia, as appears by Strabo. But pr obaWy these stadia 
are of the shortest scale, as that seems to have been 
especially used in the eastern countries. — The prince 
whom we have just mentioned made a new and very 
considerable city of a situation which Alexander had 
judged proper for an Alexandria., altering its name at the 
same time to that of Antiochia. This is known to the 
oriental geography by the name of Marou; with the 
surname of Shahi-gian, as who, should say, the soul or 
affection of the sovereign; the great calamities which it 
has suffered from those revolutions to which Asiatic 
slates have ever been extremely subject, having not 
totally annihilated it. The name of Murou is com- 
mon to another city, which is Marou-*!rund, or Marou 
of the River: and this river is the Merg-ab. — Maruca 
is a position to report here; because we recognise the 
Marucxi in the canton named Marushak, adjacent to 
Marou, though placed by Ptolemy in Bactriana; where 
•we shall have occasion to remark a still more eccentric 
transposition by this geogr.ipher. 

Bactriana. Bactriana extends along the southern 
bank of the Oxus, which separates it from Sogdiana. 
The mountains, which are a continuation of the Pa.ro- 
fiamisus, covering the north of J?idm, bound Bactriana 
towards the south. — This country is said to be of such 
high antiquity as to have been conquered by Ninus. It 



CHAP. ir. ASIA. 247 

SECT. XI. ARIA, &C. 

•was subjected to the Persians after t!ie time of Cyrus, 
but was never conquered by the Parthians. At the time 
of the insurrection of these apjainst the Syrian kings, 
the Greeks ■wiio vmder these princes governed the re- 
mote provinces, rendered themselves independent in 
Bactriana; and became so powerful by rrew conquests, 
that the country to the mouths of the Indus, and much 
beyond the limits of Alexander's conquesis, was sub- 
jected to them. — There is a considerable confusion in 
the names of rivers in Bactriana. Ochus cannot be the 
sanae river viih that already cited; since- united with 
the Darg'nmanes, it falls into the Oxus. — The name of 
Baclrus is given lo a river which should connuimicate it 
to the capital. We know at present only the name of 
the principal river, wl)ich receives another near the ca- 
pital; and its name is Delrash. — 'ihis capital, called .Sac- 
tra^ had also the name of Zariasfui, wjiich also appears 
to the river Lactrus. As to the modern Ucuiie of Balk, 
■which Has superseded that of Bactra^ it should not be 
esteemed an alteration of this name; but rather an ap- 
pellative term, denotinga piincip^l city; this having me- 
rited svich distinction in aU ages. — We see, in the march 
of Alexander to invade Bactriana, that, after traversing 
the mo;uitoins, he found on his passage a city' named 
Drafimca, or Darapaa; and the topical disposition of the 
couniry offers to observation a pl.ice named BaM inn, at 
the issiie of thf go' ges which give entrance to it. To this 
canton, nameci Gaur or Gouv, may be applied the );ame of 
Guria^ which Polybius uses in speaking of an exjjedition 
of Antiochus III, against Euthydernus, wiio became so- 
vereign in Bactriana — The Tochari were mountaineers, 
on the declivity which regards Bactriana: and Tocaris- 



248 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

ARIA, &C. SECT. XI. 

tan is still tlie name of the country between the nioun- 
tains and tie Gihon, or Oxiis.— A city under the name 
Aornos^ wiiich appe.'vs common to many places strong 
by situation, ciin be no bpiter assigned than to I'alekan, 
having a castle on a monntain called Nokr-koh, or the 
Mountain of Siher, whicli was besiei^ed by Genghiz- 
kban. And this concludes what we have to say concern- 
ing B?.ctriana. — it must nevertheless be added, that if 
Ptolemy here places Maracanda^ which actually btlongs 
to Sogdijna, ii is tliat the latitude of this city does not 
amount to the hiight whereto he advances Sogdiana, 
but ii included in the space wliich he assigns by a pro- 
portionate eKaggeralion of this country immediately 
conti'^uous. 

Sogdiana. This country extends along the light 
or northern side of the river Oxv.s., or, in the oriental 
geography, Gihon, whose course divides two great re- 
gions, Iran and iouran; the one emi>racing the Persian 
provinces in general, the other extending over tlie coun- 
tries of ancient Scythia. The country called by us 
Trans-Oxiane con f spends with that which the orientals 
also express by the name of Mauer-ennabr,- or beyond 
the river. The name of Sogdiana subsists in that of al- 
Sogd, proper to a valley which, for its exubcfani fertili- 
ty, is one of the four cantons distinguished by the name 
of Ferdous, or Paradise. — This valley is watered by a 
river which tlie historians of Alexander call Polijitmc- 
lufi, or the most precious: and it is by the numerous 
drains derived from this river that the adjacent lands are 
fertilized, while the parent stream is thereby so much 
reduced that il wants powf-r to attain the Oxus.— Mara- 
canda preserves its name in Samarkand, in the valley of 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 249 

SECT, XI. * ARIA, &,C. 

Sogd, on this river. We read in the oriental geogra- 
phers that this city, which Timur, or Temir-leng, ftade 
the capital of his empire, has a vast exic ior space envi- 
roned by a wall, to protect it against the sudden incur- 
sions of the enemy, to which it is extremely exposed, 
from the character of the neighbouring nations. The 
same is reported of Bukara, which only yields to Sa- 
markand in this country: but to wliich there cannot be 
assigned a conespondent position amoni^; those mention- 
ed in antiquity — We, however, recognise some of 
these. Oxiana cannot be better applied than to Tet med, 
becarse it is the great passage of the Oxusi between 
the country of Balk ap.d Mader-ennahr. — A considera- 
ble river named Wash is received into the Gihon: and 
tlie nanv of Bascaiis, in Ptolemy, appears to have affini- 
ty with it; though he makes it one of the rivers which 
contribute to form the Jaxartes.— There was an Jlexan- 
dria in this canton: and the surname of Oxiana, which 
distingvishes its individuruily, accoidiiig to Ptolemy, 
authorises tlie presumption of its being upon the Oxus: 
and, in the Arabian geography of Ecirisi, Alexandria is 
a city of this country, without an indication of its situa- 
tion. If we place it above Oxiana or Termed, as in 
Ptolemy, it may have occupied a position which, before 
the douiination of Timur, the princes who governed 
what is called the en pire of Zagai:.i had chosen for 
their residence, under the name of Sali-Ser. i — A place 
which is only distinguished by the appelhaive Petra, or 
the Rock, and which was besieged by Alexander, cor- 
responds with that named in the country itself Shad- 
man; but by the Turks Hisarek, which in their lan- 
Y 2 • 



250 ASIA. rHAP.lI. 

ARIA, Sec. SEC I. XI. 

guagt" denotes a fortress. Yaucaca is thought to be dis- 
covered in Nek-shab; as in Nur, or Nour, is supposed 
the canton called JVaura, where a defile was guarded by 
another rock, or Petra. — The situation and the name of 
Kacius refer to Gabcs^ which is mentioned as one of the 
first places to which the exploits of Alexander have gi- 
ven celebrity in this country.— Another more remarka- 
ble, was a city coristructed by Cyrus, on the hither bank 
of the Jaxartes, in his expedition againf^t the Massage- 
tes, named Cyreschata; a name which in its termina- 
, tion expresses a position the most remote. It was de- 
stroyed by Alexander, to substitute a city of his own 
name, distinguished by the surname of Ultvna., corres- 
ponding in Latin with the precedent term in Greek. 
There is no position which so evidently represents these 
cities as that of Cogend, wiiich presents itself before 
entering the country of Fergana on this bank of the Si- 
hon, or Jaxartes. 

The country traversed by the Oxvis in the latter part 
of its course, belonged to the Chorasmii; and is well 
known by its modern name of PLharasm', or Khoaresm. 
under ihe second empire of the Persijns, we find it oc- 
cupied by a Scythian nation, called Euthalitea by the 
Greeks of the Lower Emp're; and whose name of Hai- 
atelah in Abulfeda extends over all the Miifir-ennahr, 
which is ordmyrily attributed to the Tartars called Uz- 
beks. — The Uc-me of Gor^-o is observed to be thai qf the 
capital of the Euthalites: and the city known at present 
in Kharasm under the name of Urghenz, is the same 

with Corcang in the oriental geographers According 

to the ancients, both the Oxi^s and Jaxartes ha>e their 
mouth sin the Caspian Sea. However, we know by actual 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 251 

SECT. XI. ARIA, &C. 

information that the Oxus oi Gi.'ioii, ttirned into a lake, 
no lonp;er flows in lo the sea; and that tne channel which 
conveyed it thither, closed by design, is now dry. In 
the map of the ancient world, it Kas been deemed expe- 
dient to design these rivers as they really are; they 
moreover expressly appear in their present state in a 
representation made of these eastern countries about 
five hundred years ago. Were it permitted here to dis- 
cuss what Herodotus says of a river under the name of 
Praxes, it would appear that this Araxes having no affi- 
nity in circumstances with that of Armenia, and having 
communication with a lake by a multitude of artificial 
canals, notwithstanding its pr,ogress to the sea, can be 
no other than the Oxus. And it would also appear that 
Strabo mentions the same praxes. This name of Arax- 
es was common to too many rivers in Asia, not to be 
taken for an appellative term, rather than the proper 
name of an individual river. Thus Herodotus employs 
the same name of Araxes in speaking;' of the expedition 
of Cyrus against Queen Tomyris and the Massagetes, 
Avhere there is evident allusion to the Jaxartes rather 
than to the Oxus. We find, in the historians of Alex- 
ander, the Jaxartes which the ancients give for the 
boundary of Sogdiana, mentioned under the name of 
Tanais. Its modern name is Sir, which appears to have 
prevailed over that of Sihon, familiar to the oriental 
geographers, and reading in Pliny tiiat the Jaxartes was 
called ^ilis among the Scythians, we shall not judge it 
to be the most recent name. 



252 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

SCYTHIA A3IATICA; &C. SECT. XII. 

SECTION TWELFTH 
SCYTHIA ASIATICA, ET SERICA, 

PARf 0.F tAfifART AND T'IBET', ScC. 

ScYTRiA Amatica. This Scythia, according to the 
knowledge that the ancients had of it, was but a small 
part of that which connmon usage comprehends under 
the general name of Tartary.* Scythia is divided 
by Ptolenty into Scythia iiitra Imcmnu and Scythia 
extra I?naUm,'--The mountain of Jmaiia is connected 
with Paropanisus by the chain which covers the north 
of India; ana in the Indian geography we f^nd the 
name of Ime'ia Pambadam, wherein is a remarkable 
affinity with that of ihe tv.'o mountains above mentioned. 
In the prolongation of this chain to the east, between 
Scythia and India- it takes the name of Emodus; and it 
is reasonable lO suppuse that the observations of moJern 
geogrcipheis huve given a precision to the natural fea- 
tures and local circumstances of this country, which 
cannot be expected from Ptolemy. But it is evident 
t!:at Imaiis, to divide Scythia, must detach a branch 
which extends far towards the north. — We find no name 
more considerate in Scytliia thun that of Massagetae, 



\ 



* This name of Tartary is of recent date; that of Tatar, as 
It should be written, only appearing- towards the close of the 
twelfth century; and even limited to a single horde or tribe, 
whose submission to that of the Moguls commanded by Gen- 
ghiz Kahn, was the first achievement of this conqueror: an 
, event that did not hinder thci name of the vr.nquished people 
from prevailing over the other to such an amount, as to become 
a general indication for almost half the continent of Asia. 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 253 

SECT. XII. SCYTHIA ASIA.TICA, &C. 

which may be mterpreted the Great Gcick, by the sig- 
nification of the initial syllables.- Tha primitive and 
principctj clweliitjg of the Massagetes was beyond the 
Jaxartes or Araxes, according to HtMo4,otus; and in the 
vicinity of the moor which the same rivet forms, ac- 
cording to Strabo. And if we find this n.trae in other 
countries, as in those of the ^lans and the Huns, of a 
different race, tlie diffusion of it was owing to the cele- 
brity that it acquired in Scythia. The ptoper name of 
Gefe has rernained to a vast country,. extending to Seri- 
ca — Southward of these, the Sacce formed a great na*- 
lion of Nomades, who had no cities, but inhabited ca- 
verns and forests, and who repelled Cyrus in I'!-- attack 
upon them — A country which immediately succeeds 
Sogdiana towards the east, preserves the lurae i>{ ^^aki- 
ta The Comeda inhabited the monntains that cover 
tliis country on the noithern side, and whence the Jax- 
artes takes its source — -A position uncier the name of 
Turris Lafiidta attracts attention to a fortress on a steep 
rock, named Aatas.— Towards the common limits of the 
two Scythias, the station appointed for the leception of 
the merchants whom commerce attracted to the coun- 
try of the Scr's, may be represented by that named 
Souc, if it have any relation to the same word in the 
Arabic languai^e, signifying a fair or market. We may 
-add, that the passage of a mountain gives entrance into 
the country of Kashgar; as Casta Regio h placed by 
Ptolemy in the further Scythia, in the same parallel 
with the above mentioned position, and immediately 
succeeding it. — The position of Ascou, farther north 
than Kasht»ar, corresponds otherwise as well as in the 
circumstance of being a principal place, with that named 



254 ASIA. CHAP. II. ' 

SCYTHIA ASIATICA, &C. SECT. XII. 

Auxacia^ in Piolemy. — We shcdl speak of /««eo?OM, of 
this Scytl(ia, in treating of Serica. — As to the ^A«, a 
Scythian people, described as the most just aniong men, 
it is as difficult \^ find them morally as geographically; 
and Strabo e':ives this people to Europe, whom other 
Writers place ir. Asia. The Arimaspi^ who have but one 
eye, are in the Sc.nie ctitegory, referred to one and the 
other division of tlic world; and the Grifihi, or Grifons, 
■who guarded the t^ohi that tliev^77W2a.s;/2?aws endeavoured 
to seize, mt-y. together with the two former, be consign- 
ed to the regioiis of romance. The Jgripfim of Hero- ' 
dotus should be, from the manner in which he speaks 
of them, rather a society of Bramins or Lumas, than a 
particular n;iiion- 

Serica. Serica appeal's to be a continuation of the 
same country with Scyiiua, vuthoui a sepaiation marked 
by any local circumstance. The name of the people, or 
Seres, is tiled in many writeis of antiquity; but it is to 
Ptolen>y alone that we owe any detail ot the country, as 
■well as of the anterior part cf Scylhia. "And among all 
the regions which the geography of Ptolemy compre- 
hends, it is not' without some surprise that we remark 
Serica to be the most correctly treated-, although one of 
the objects the most remote in it. But this country was 
on the route by which a great trade was maintained with 
the frontier of China; and he miglit have gained infor- 
mation of its choroguiphy by the same way. An ancient 
denomination, and truly Scythian, is that of Gete, which 
extends over Serica. However, there is another known; 
the name of Jiygur, more special and appropriate, which 
refers to those of Ii/ia^-uri. given to this nation; and 
Ithagurua^ a mountain of the country. It must be added, 



CHAP. II, ASIA. 255 

SECT. XII. SCYTHIA ASIATICA, &C. 

that the ethnic name which appccirs to l>ave predomina- 
ted here, is that of the Issrdones, or Rasedones; which 
as the writers of antiquity have given to several people 
among the Sarmalians towards the, Pains Moeotis, as well 
as to some nations of India, it is not extraordinary to find 
applied to a Scythian nation. — Of two cities of the com- 
mon name of Issedon, one was surnamed Serica, the 
other Scythia. The Chinese history in the recital of 
enterprises of ( hina upon the adjacent countries, begun 
about a hundred and fifty yenrs before the Christian 
sera, furnishes information about these countries not to 
be found elsewhere. It indicates, as capital of the prin- 
cipal part of the Eygur, a city of which the Chinese 
name denotes it to have been situated at the confluence 
of two rivers; but which is also cited in the Arabian 
geographers, under a name less foreign to the country; 
and in Marco-Polo, by that of Lop. This name of Lop 
is known in a lake which veceives the most considera- 
ble of the rivers of Eygur, augmented by another which 
represents CEc/ia?-des, of the termination of whose 
course Ploiemy appears ignorant. There is little risk 
of error in placing here the Issedon of Serica; but the 
other Isaedon being Scythian, we must go back for its 
position, which we shall most probably find in that na- 
med by the Turks Hara-Shar, or the Black Town; and, 
in another language, Cialic, or Cealac, which a traveller 
of the thirteenth century represents as the principal of 
this region. — The place most interesting to curiosity is 
Sera Metrofiolis: but, before arriving there, we must re- 
mark a chain of mountains named Ouorocorras.^ other- 
wise Sericua MmP; and a rivei- issuing from it, called 
Bautes, that forms branchts which unite after having 



256 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

•■ _____ 

SCYTHIA ASIATICA, &C. SECT. XII. 

held separate courses towards tlie north. 1 his river, 
on the frontier of China, is represented with conformity 
to these circumstances, as a doiil);e stream under the 
name of Etzine. Now the reigning city in all ages, on 
this frontier, having been Kan-tcheo\i, and these natural 
features corresponding witlial, it must unaoubtedly re- 
present the capital of Ser'.ca, This city, whose name 
appears under the form of Campilion, in Marco-Polo, 
commanded, as he expresses it, the country of Tangut: 
and if this country make at present a part of the Chi- 
nese province of Shefi-si, it must be observed that in 
Kan-tcheou resides a particular governor, independent 
of the viceroy pf the province. It was heretofore the 
residence of princes of a powerful nation, mentioned in 
Chinese history under the name of Hoei-he; and the 
sciences were there cultivated. A remarkable circum- 
stance in its position isj having the latitude well ascer- 
tained bv observation, in our days, to a fraction of a de- 
gree, the same with that of Sera in Ptolemy; who ap- 
pears to have been accurately informed of some particu- 
lar parallels in the east. 

We see, in Ptolemy, Serica confining upon a coun- 
try of the Sine, between the east and south; a circuni- 
slance that requires explanation, to prevent a confusion 
with a country of the same name, wliich wiij appear if 
this work, annexed to the article of India, without de^ 
viating from the order that Ptolemy has observed in th« 
arrangement of the same objects. History, which musl! 
often illustrate geography, will show us who were tlie 
Sina contiguous with Serica, far distant from the Sintt 
beyond the Garges. Shen-si, bordeW^ on Serica, com-] 
prised, about eight hundred years before the C:hri 



, com 4 

risti;-.* 

i 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 257 

SECT. IX. SCYTHIA ASIATICA, &C. 

sera, a kingdom called Tsin; and it must be believed 
that it is by comparison with this kingdom of Tsin, that, 
in Chinese books the country to the west, and of greater 
extent, is called Ta-Tsin, or the Great Tsin. For, be- 
sides that the Chinese do not designate their country by 
this name, it is well known that their pride will not suf- 
fer it to be compared with any other. The name of 
Tsin, comprised in Shen-si, was pmserved by the west- 
ern people whom commerce brought across Serica. 
Moreover, the situation which we discover here to be 
that of Serica, by an immediate succession of anterior 
regions, and by a rigorous application of places reported 
in this country to those locally correspondent, is not that 
which it has been made to take: the northen part of 
China having been hitherto thought to represent it; 
while the position of Se7-a has been transported to Pe- 
kin, three hundred leagues distant from that which ac- 
tually belongs to it — Antiquity publishes extraordinary 
things concerning the Seres: such as two hundred years 
©f life, an unalterable love of justice, aversion from war, 
and no taste for the arts. But though this last circum- 
stance may enter into the character of a Scythian nationi 
we are not to form the same judgment of those which 
precede. 

The ancients appear to have had a false idea of silk; 
the name of which having an evident analogy to that of 
Serica, it may not be improper to enter into a brief dis- 
quisition of the subject here. The ancients describe it 
to be a kind of white wool growing on the leaves of a 
tree, from which it was disengaged for carding by 
means of a suffusion of water. This setjms to be a plau- 
Z 



258 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

INDIA ET SlifM. SECT. XIII, 

sible error, the description resembling what appears in 
a Ciiinese memoir conccming Eygur; that in this coun- 
try is a tree pi educing a species of fruit, from which is 
drawn a thread very white and very fine.* However this 
may be, there is mention of the silk-worm, under the 
name of Ser, in a writer of the second century; though 
this worm was reputed Indian, because it was from In- 
dia that silk was immediately brought into the west. 



SECTION THIRTEENTH. 

INDIA ET SINJE, 

fHE fWO PENINSULAS AND COCHIN CHINA. 

India is the most extensive part of ancient Asia, as 
it is one of the most celebrated. Sciences and polity 
are found among the Indians from the earliest time in 
which the country was known. The entei'prises of Cy- 
rus, and of Darius son of Hystaspes, on India, preceded 
by an expedition of Semiramis, and by that attributed to 
Dionysius or Bacchus, have afforded to the west no par- 
ticular knowledge of this country. Nor did Europe ac- 
quire any geographical acquaintance with India till the 
invasion of it by Alexander. It was under Seleucus Ni- 
cator, who, in the dismemberment of the empire of this 
conqueror, saw all the east under his dominion, that this 
continent was explored to the Ganges, and the bounds 
which the sea prescribed to it on the south were ascer- 
tained by navigators. But navigation and co.nmerce, 
more favourable still than war to the extention of the 



Is not cotton here the subject of disquisition? 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 259 

SECT. XIII. INDIA ET SIN^. 

limhs of geography, as we have seen exemplified in 
ages posterior to those of antiquity, had carried these 
limits beyond the Gantres as far as the country of Sinse; 
and what Strabo, and Pliny after him, have left us igno- 
rant of in this extremity of the world known to the an- 
cients, is an advancement due to Ptolemy. And what- 
ever be the defects of his geography, the application of 
modern notices to the objects which he pitsen>s, will 
be sufficient to fix them in the positions which severally 
belong to them. 

In India there are two great rivers, the Indus and 
the Ganges. The course of this last makes a partition 
of the continent into two regions. India intra Gangem^ 
and India ultra Gangem; India within, and India with- 
out or beyond the Ganges. It would appear that India 
received its name from the other river, which traverses 
from north to south all that part of it bordering on the 
anterior countries. But it must be remarked that, in 
the country itself, this river is called Sind, from an ap- 
pellative denoting a river, common in every age; and 
the name of Sindus^ or Sinthus^ is also applied in anti- 
quity to the Indus. Among the multitude of rivers de- 
scending from the mountains that cover the north of 
India, it is not easy to distinguish that to which the 
name of Indus peculiarly belongs, there being no cer- 
tainty in their names even at the present day. 

We shall now enter upon an examination of what 
the marches of Alexander give; the deiLiil of wi.ich fur- 
nishes whatever is most inteiesting relating to ancient 
geography in this part of India. Arrian is the most 
authentic historian to be consulted on this subject.— 



260 ASIA. CHAP. IT. 

INDIA EX SINjE. SECT. XIII. 

Alexander, in his expedition for India, departed from 
the Alexmidria founded at the descent of the Paropa- 
mise, when advancing towards Bactriana, as we have 
shown above. The oriental geographers agree that this 
Alexandria is Kandahar, a place often disputed between 
Persia and India. But the analogy of which they speak 
in this denomination cannot be acquiesced in, since the 
name of Kandahar seems to come from the ancient Per- 
sian term Kohiind, or, by abbreviation, Kond or Kand, 
denoting a fortress. — After a river named Cofihes., which 
may be that in the environs of Kandahar; the Coas^ or 
the Cohes, which Alexander met with, is known by its 
actual name of Cou. — The nation of AsfiiU and a river 
under the name of Euasfila^ which is not mentioned 
elsewhere, are beyond; then follow the Gurtei, and the 
river Gu7'cEus.—-Vhe Assaceni, who succeeded, are found 
by the knowledge acquired of a particular canton and 
city named Ash-nagur, the last member of the name 
being a term in the Indian language common to princi- 
pal cities. Now this canton being beyond that which 
has been for some lime known under the name of Ca- 
bul, and even beyond the city of Devava more recently 
known, it must be the region given between the river 
C/ioas and the nation of the Assace?n. This interval is 
intersected both by the river of Cabul, called Behat op 
of Spices, otherwise Hezare, or the Thousandth, and by 
that which passes by Devava. Actual information of 
Ash-nagur piaces this city at the confluence of the Be- 
hat and the Sind: and this is the first indication that we 
have of the Indus, whose source must thus be in the 
nortu-west angle oi India, in the province named Kaka- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 261 

SECT. XIII. • INDIA ET SINjE. 



ner.* — There is found in Ptolemy, between the Coas 
and the Indus, a river named Suastus, communicating 
to a canton the name of Suastene; and although there be 
no other mention of it in antiquity, modern geography 
knows a river and a canton nan.ed Suvat, which is evi- 
dently the same. It must be observed, at the same 
time, that the information thus acquired places the re- 
gion and the river of Suvut beyond the Sind, which we 
have met with. On the other hand the position of 5c- 
risadis, which in the march of Alexander preceded the 
passage of the Indus, and which the return of limur. 
from his expedition in India makes known by the name 
Berudgee, would intimate that the river called Indus is 
not the Sind iiitherto, but the Tchenav, which issues 
from Kashmir, and at whose confluence with the prece- 
ding Indus the city of Altock is situated. — The advan- 
tage of the situation of Attock, and some analogy in this 
denomination, which seems preceded by an article in 
the oriental manner, concur to represent Taxila, the 
most considerable city in this part of India.— On the 
Suvat, at its entrance into the Sind, the name of Rents 
has a manifest affinity with that of Jornos, the famous 



• In the country called Souhad by Rennel, who, though he 
differs from M. D'Anville in many of his names, agrees exactly 
with him in the latitude and long'itude of the sources of the 
Sind, and in the direction of the mountains which cover them. 
But the disagreement may be easily reconciled, by observing 
the great diversity of populai* names for the same objects in 
Hindoostan, occasioned by the frequent revolutions and con- 
quests which this unhappy country has suffered. 
Z 2 



262 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

INDIA ET SIN.E. SECT. XIII. 

rock in the submission of which Alexander thought 
his glory interested. Modern geography indicates ano- 
ther place of similar situation, under the name of Tche- 
hin-kot, below Attock, in the angle formed by the con- 
fluence of the Cou with the Sind. As it is suid in his- 
tory that Embolima was a city in the vicinity of Aornos, 
and as the position of this city in Ptolemy appears in the 
neighbourhood of the Coas and Indus, and lower than 
Taxila, Tchehin-kot rather than Renas should r«^re- 
sent Aornos. But when we read in Strabo that Aoinos is 
towards the sources of the Indus, we shall be more incli- 
ned to apply to it the position of Renas. — It is deenied 
necessary to explain also the circumstances that regard 
Cas/iira, placed in Kashmir. It is given as a principal 
city, comnuinicating its name to a country; but placed 
according to Ptolemy more towards the centre of India 
than Kashmir. An evident analogy in tlie names is a 
presumption of identity; and it can hardly be believed 
that the knowledge of this country, so celebrated in In- 
dia for the amenity of its aspect, was unknov\n to the 
ancients. And yet, in the detail of the marches of Alex- 
ander, we see nothing resembling what distinguishes 
the situation of this region, encompassed by mountains. 
-r-On this side of the Indus, JVysa was a city which me- 
rited to be known to Alexander. Its foundation is attri- 
buted to Dionysius or Bacchus, in his expedition from 
India, and Indian traditions meiuion Kiisada-buram; that 
is to say, the city of Nysa and of a hero who issued from it. 
Ptolemy gives the position of it under the name oi A''aga- 
ra; adding that its name is also Dionysiofwlis. Nagar, or 
Nagur, is known to be an Indian term for a city of the 
first rank; and modern geography recognises this espe- 



€HAP. II. ASIA. 263 

SECT. XIII. INDIA ET SISJE. 

cially under the name of Nagar. There is even this 
particular circumstance in its position, that Ptolemy 
found its height between the 32d and 33d degreeS) 
which is the true parallel of it. This remarkable accu- 
racy will not be attributed to a fortuitous cause, when it 
is remembered to be met with in some other latitudes 
in these oriental countries, and when it is considered 
'that astronoitiy is one of the sciences that have been cul- 
tivated from immemorial time by the Brahmins of In- 
dia. 

To conclude what concerns the rivers which the In- 
dus receives, the march of Alexander must be resumed 
towards the close of his expedition. He departed from 
Taxila, and arrived at the Hydas/ies, which he crossed, 
to give battle to Poius, Tnence he proceeded to the 
Acesines, which is spoken of as the most considerable 
river that contributes to the augmentation of the Indus. 
To this river succeeds the Hydrabtes, and to this the 
Hyfihads. And there is no difficulty in the recognition 
of these rivers: for we find the Hydaspes in the Shan- 
trov, the Acesines in the river which passes Laha<lr, or 
the Ravei, Hydruotes in Biah, and Hyfihases in Cafil. 
These rivers, with the Tchenav which precedes them, 
making the number of five, have given to a great pro- 
vince which they water the name of Pendj-ab, signify- 
ing in Persian the Five rivers. We know that the Hy- 
daspes falls into the Acesines, on reading that the fleet 
of Alexander was damaged at the confluence of these 
rivers. And this prince, after returning from the ulti- 
mate point of his expedition on the Hyphasis, embark- 
ing on the Acesines, encountered successively the issue 
of the Hydraotes and that of the Hyphasis, before he 



264 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

INDIA ET SIN^ffi. SECT. XIII. 

arrived at the Indus. These circumstances seem the 
more worthy to he reported heie, as the knowledge re- 
sulting from them is not supplied by any modern me- 
moir that has hitherto appeared. — We are not sufficient- 
ly acquainted with the shores of the Hydaspes to ascer- 
tain what positions hold the place of Bucefihala and M- 
ccea, cities founded by Alexander in memory of his 
horse, and of the victory won from Porus. But a com- 
mon distance given in the ancient itinerary measure of 
India with regard to I^ahcur, fixes these cities upon the 
same radius, on opposite sides of the river. And the 
city which is here assumed tis a central point, should be 
written Lahora, instead of Tahora, as it appears in the 
document called the Theodosian T-AhXe.-^Sangala, be- 
tween the Hydnotes and the Hyphasis, atter having re- 
tarded the progress of Alexander in suffering a siege, 
was totally subverted by that conqueror. Savgala is found 
in Ptolemy with the name of Euthymedia also: but we 
would fain read it Euthydemiay after a Greek who directed 
a successful insurrection in Bactriana against the Scleu- 
cidae, and pushed his conquest deeply into India, where 
he re-established a city under his own name. — On the 
further shore of the Hyphasis Alexander erected Altars 
as a monumental term of his progress eastward.— A 
little beyond these is a position meriiing notice, under 
the name of Serinda. This name is cited as national in 
the history of Julian; for we find there both the Jndi 
and the Ser^Indi: and it was from Serivda that silk was 
brought to Justinian. In the modern name of this place, 
which is Seihend, there ought to be remarked tlie name 
proper to Serica, combined wiih that which in the orien- 
tal geography is used to denote India — The course of the 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 265 

SECT. XIII. INDIA BT SINjE. 

Acesines conducted Alexander into the canton occupied 
by the powerful nation of the Malli. to which that of the 
Oxydractc was contiguous. It can scarcely be doubted 
that Mol-tan, or Muhan, a considerable city, represents 
the capital of the first: and it is tliought that a fragment 
of the name of the second is discoveted in the form of 
Oiitch6» on the Indus, above the confluence of the Ace- 
sines. But to an Mexandria founded on the point of 
this confluence, modern observation aifords nothing ap- 
plicable. 

It remains that we pursue the course of the Indus 
to its issue in the sea. The royal city of the Sogdi, 
which Alexander met with in descending this river, and 
which was renovated by him. can be no other than Bu- 
kor, which has served for the residence of the kings of 
this country. Limited to a holm, the towns, or suburbs 
rather, Sukor and Louhri, accompany it on opposite 
shores.— The name of SindQ-mana, couiposed of that of 
the river itself, is applicable to the position of a city 
which, immediately succeeds the preceding.— A stream 
emanating from the Indus to rejoin it below, incloses a 
spacious island named Frasiane^ or the Verdant. — We 
are instructed that Minagara, the principal city of the 
country, and situated on this river, is the same with al- 
Mansora, which, as appears by the oriental geography, 
bore the name of Minh. tlie, before it fell under the 
Mohammedan power, in the khalifat of al-Mansor, the 
second of the Abbassides. — The Indus, in approaching 
the set, divides itself into two arms; and at the angle of 
tbis division, a city named Patala gave the name of Pa- 
talene to the island which these branches describe. This 
situation corresponds with that of Tatta-nagar, and tb^ 



266 ASIA. CHAP. II. 



I "^DIA ET SIN.fi. SECT. XIII. 



name of Tatta is someliiues extended lo the pro- 
vince: but it must be raid that this province is more fre- 
quently denoted in the name of Sind, borrowed from 
that of the river. And this name of Sind is moreover 
continued from the mouths of the Indus towards the 
west in Gedrosia, convpiising the territories of the ^ra- 
bit« and Oritae before mentioned — The Barbaricum Os- 
tium is the ptiiicip.il mouth, and that which is on the 
right in descending; and the Emfiorium &{ \\ie same 
name corresponds with the position of Oebii, or Divl- 
Sindi— That of Xyleiiopolisy or the City of VVood, the 
construction of which is attributed to Alexander, who 
visited the left branch as well as the right, is applied to 
the port 6f Laheri, only on the single presumption of 
local conformity.— .The part of India which we have hi- 
therto traversed, being that wherein history requires the 
most illustration from geography, we have endeavoured 
to detail in a manner that will be found sufficient to fix 
the principal objects of historic circumstances. As to 
the name of Indo- Scythian given to all the couiitry to- 
wards the lower part of the Indus, there is reason to be- 
lieve that the dominion established in India by the 
Greeks of Bactriana, was destroyed by an eruption^ of 
the Scythians of the countries of Get6, who thus impart- 
ed to the name of tueir own nation: and we observe in 
Cherefeddin's accovint of the expedition of Timur, the 
remains of a numerous people of the name of Gete, sub- 
sisting in the centre oi India. 

The Ganges, although of more considerable magni- 
tude than the Indus, turnishes not so great a number of 
positions known, to antiquity. Its sources, and the up- 
per part of its course, to the point where it chang;es from 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 267 

SECT. XIII. INDIA ET SINiE. 

Scythir.n to Indian by opening u passage through a chain 
of mountains, was not known in geography till our days. 
Under Seleucus Nicator, successor to Alexander in 
the east, there was some information obtained of the 
country lying between the limits of the conqueror's ex- 
pedition and the Ganges. Thus the Jomanes, or Gem- 
ne,* was known, which at its entrance into the Ganges 
appears almost equal to it in magnitude; the Hesidrusy 
which, preceding this river, falls into it under the name 
of Kehker; and Calinifiaxa nearer to the Ganges, and 
whose name of Calini is found in the account of the ex- 
pedition of Timur. — The breadth of India was measu- 
red on a royal route to Palibothra., the most considerable 
city of India. It was situated on the Ganges, at the 
place where this river received a tributary stream, which 
appears the same as the Jomanes., although called Erdn' 
nobas. With this position corresponds that of Helabas,t 
which by tire vestiges of antiquity, and. the tradition of 
having been the dwelling of the parent of mankind, is a 
kind of sanctuary in the Indian paganism. The most 
powerful nation of India, the Prasii, occupied the city 
under consideration; and the name of Praye, which we 
find tipplied to Helabas, seems to perpetuate that of the 
nation. — Some positions are recognised by analogy of 
denomination; as Agara in Agra^which the Mogul Ek- 

• Jumna, in Rennell. 

f Allahabad in Rennell, or the Sacred City, according to 
tlie common interpretation of the word: the terminatian abad 
being the appellative name for a city in this part of Hindoostan, 
The aoove mentioned geographer is of opinion ttiat Patna re- 
presents Palibothra. 



268 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

INDIA ET SINjE. SECT. XIII. 

bar made his capital in the sixteenth century; Metho- 
ra on the Genir.6 in Matura, which a celebrated pago- 
da or Indian temple distinguishes; and Sambalaca on the 
Ganges, in vSanbal. The name of Scandrabatis in Pto- 
lemy differs little from that of Scanderbad in the coun- 
try, as proper to a city which in distant ages was a capi- 
tal.— Descending the Ganges, we see in Ptolemy a po- 
sition between the arms by which this vast river disem- 
bogues its waters, named Gange Regia. But if the ge- 
neral want of precision observed on the part of Ptolemy 
permit us to ascribe to this a city corresponding more 
in moral than in local circumstances, it would be that of 
Kaji-mohol, near the first division of the river into two 
principal arms. The name of this city distinguished 
it as a legal residence, while the vestiges of antiquity in 
its environs are evidences of its faded splendor.*— As to 
the mouths of this river, the Magnum Ostium of Ptole- 
my can only correspond with the spacious entrance 
most frequented by Europeans, which conducts towards 
a pl3ce well known under the name of Hougly. 

To that which hitherto constitutes the north of India, 
succeeds the southern part, on this side of the Ganges. 
And this subject will lead us back to take our departure 
from near the mouths of the Indus. In the bottom of 
the gulf which receives this river, called Canthi Sinua, 
now the Gulf of bindi, the name of a river which is Pa- 
dar is intimately analogous to that of Orbadari, given to 
9i city in Ptolc^m) . — Up this river, we discover in the city 



• On the Mogul conquest, the court of Bengal was reir.oTcd ^ 
to Mourshedabad. 3 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 269 

SECT. XIII, INDIA ET SINiE. 

of Asmer, a position named Gugasmira. — The maritime 
country of Soret is that which we find to have been na- 
med Syraslene.-^l^VdXiA^ on one side of the gulf pre- 
serve in their names of Barseti, or Balseti, that of Bw 
race. — What Ptolemy calls Lai-ice, corresponds with 
Guzerat; and the name of Lar is found applied to the 
peninsula which comprehends a great part of this coun- 
try.— Among the positions recognised therein, that of 
Baleocuri-regia is particularly interesting. The sove- 
reign which this name designates, is celebrated as 
equally potent and well respected among the Indian 
princes, in the oriental writings; where the title which 
distinguishes him, rather than a proper name, is read 
Balahara. Cambay, at the bottom of a^gulf, was the 
port to the place of his residence; as this town is still to 
Amed-abad, the capital of Guzerat. — Ozene, another 
royal city, appears in the name of Ugen; and Mandiadc' 
ni in that of Mandoii, which is a considerable fortress, 
—Returning towards the coast, we find Barygaza Xo 
have been, in relation to Indian commerce, what Cam- 
bay has since been, and what Surat is at present. This 
city is well known to be Barokia, or Beriig, as the Per- 
sians gall it.— In a situation conformable to that of Su- 
rat, that is to say, at some distance from the sea, the 
river Nerbedah, which passes it, is found in Ptolemy 
under the name of JVamadus. — What is now called the 
Gulf of Cambay, was named Barygazenus Sinus. 

We penetrate now into that part of India which, be- 
ing projected between two seas, is considered as a pe- 
ninsula. The author of a description of the coasts of 
the Erythrean Sea, informs us that what extends beyond 
A a 



270 ASIA. CHAP. II. 

INDIA ET SINjE. sect. Xlll. 

Barygaza towards the south, is called in the country 
Dachanabades; because Dachan, among the Indians, sig- 
nifies the south: and the last membep of the word evi- 
dently refers to a Persian term, which it is common to 
see employed at the end of proper names of cities in 
India as well as in Persia. The denomination denoting 
the south, may be observed to subsist in that of Decan, 
or, according to the Indian pronunciation Daken. The 
intelligence of this country will appear limited to mari- 
time places. — Antiquity speaks of pirates who still sub- 
sist under the name of Angrias; and whose principal 
retreat is a place named Vizindruk, in a small island 
near the coast. Muziris, mentioned as a place much 
frequented, appears to have been this position; opposite 
to which is a place named Giria. — The country adjacent 
to this coast was called Limyrica, and obeyed another 
prince than Baleocur; and whose .residence, named Ca- 
rura, at a distance from the sea, may be represented by 
a city in a similar situation, called Kaiiri. — JVelcynda was 
approached by means of a river whose name of Boris is 
found in that of Bardez, appropriated to a district bor- 
dering on one of the canals which environ the isle of 
Goa; and by which a river called Ganges, as an appella- 
tive term, communicates with the sea. This place was 
amont; the dependencier. of a prince called Pandion, j 
"whobe government extended hence to the southern ex- i 
treniiiy of the peninsula. Vessels of a single piece of j 
wood brought to this port the pepper of a canion named ' 
Coiionara, which is easily recognised in Canara.— A 
port under the name of Elancon may belong to that 
whicli is ciied as a kingdom on this coast under the ' 
name of Eli, in Marco-Polo, and distinguished by "t 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 271 

SECT. XIII. INDIA ET SINJE. 

elevated promontory which mariners call mount Dcli.— 
we then find a nation under the name oi jUi- having for 
their principal city Cottiara. — Though it may appear 
strange in Ptolemy to see the Comara Promontorium at 
the end of a coast ranged from Barygazenus Si?ius to 
the west, rather than prolonged towards the south, yet 
this promontory is indubitably Cape Comorin. — The in- 
flected line of the coast beyond this cape describes a 
gulf called by Ptolemy Colchicus Sinus; deducing this 
name from a port named Colchi^ now KilUat. — Sosicure^ 
on the same gulf must be Tutucurin: and what we call 
the coast of the fishery, is expi^essed in Ptolemy by 
the terms Colymbpsis Pinici, by which the bivalve that 
furnishes the pearls is designated. — The isle and pro- 
montory of Cori, which terminate the gulf, are repre- 
sented by Ramanan-koil. Ptolemy appears in fault, to 
confound this promontory with the CaUigicum, which is 
farther on, and whose Indian name of Calla-meclu is cor- 
rupted by mariners into Cagliamere. — In the interior 
country, Modura, which is evidently Madne. served for 
the residence of a monarch, already mentioned by the 
name of Pandion; from whom, as from another great 
prince called Porus, Augustus being at Samos, received 
an embassy. According to Indian memoirs, this coun- 
try for a great extent bore the na of Pandimandalam; 
in which that proper to the sovereign is observed to 
precede the appellative term for a kingdom. 

Opposite this continent lies the famous island of 7a- 
firobana, with which antiquity only became acquainted 
by the sequel of the expedition of Alexander, in India; 
and it was then amplified so much, as to be deemed the 
commencement of another world, inhabited by Antich. 



S^'S ASIA. CHAP. 11. 



INDIA ET SIN^. SECT. XIII. 



thonesy- or men in a position opposite to those in the 
known hemisphere. Ptolemy, better informed, and re- 
ducing Taprobana to an island, with some particulars 
remarkably correspondent in actual circumstances, 
makes this island nevertheless about five times more 
spacious than it really is. Strabo speaks of it as though 
it lay off the hither coast of India, looking towards 
the continent of Africa. The name of Salice, which 
we learn from Ptolemy to be the native dewouiination 
for this island, is preserved in that of Selen-dive, com- 
pounded of the proper name of Selen, and the appella- 
tive for an island in the Indian language; and it is appa- 
rent that the name of Ceilan, or Ceylon, according to 
the European usage, is only an alteration in orthogra- 
phy, — The river called Ganges, which falls into the sea 
on the eastern coast, is evidently that which is recogni- 
sed for the most considerable, under the name of Mowil 
Ganga. — The name of Ma/ea, attributed to the moun- 
tains of the island by Ptolemy, is the generic term of 
Malei, used in the maritime part of the neighbouring 
continent. — The vestiges which the islanders call Shin- 
gulais, and report to be those of a great and magnificent 
city, under the name of Anarodgurro, represent AnurO' 
g}'a7nmum, which Ptolemy distinguishes as a royal city. 
—The position oi Maagrainmiwu with the title of capi- 
tal, corresponds v.ith that of the present rtsidence of 
the sovereign, and known by the name of Candi. — There 
is mention in P'iny of another royal city, whose name of- 
Palcednmndmn is remarkable, forasmuch as the name of 
Simundi is given to Taprobana by some authors of anti- 
quity. Here resided a king, from whom the emperor 
Claudius received an embassy: and from an extensive 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 2^3 

SECT. XIII. INDIA ET SIN.ffi. 

lake adjacent to this city, as well as from otlier circum- 
stances in its situation, it is believed to be represented 
by that which in the north of the island is named Jafna- 
patam.— The islands which Ptolemy places off Tapro- 
bana, to the number of thirteen hundred and seventy, 
can be no other than the Mal-dives, although known to 
be much mo.e numerous. 

We must now resume the coast of the continent, and 
remount to the Ganges; departing from the promontory 
which we have seen to be Cagliamere. — M'gama, which 
Ptolemy distinguishes as a capitpl, is Negaputam — CM' 
beris, a city and river, appear obviously in Caveripatam, 
on one of the mouths of that river which communicates 
to this city its name of Caveri.* The denomination 
which in the usage of Europeans is Coromandel, being 
actually Sora-Mandalam, indicates what in Ptolemy is 
called Paralia Soretanum, or the maritime^country of 
Sora Arcot, the principal city in what is called the Car- 
natic, is the same with Arcati^ a royal city of Ptolemy; 
and as he adds to it the name of Sora, it is proper to re- 
mark that, among the Indians, the title of the sovereign 
of the country is '^oYen.~—Maliar/iha is represented by 
Meliapur, a city heretofore powerful; although the im- 
portance of this place, possessed by the Portuguese un- 
der the name of St. Thomas, is now superseded by the 
adjacent establishment of the English at Madras. — The 

* Trichinipoly, on this river, manifests in its name a Greek 
origin; and may be ascribed to the Egyptian Greeks under the 
Ptolemies, who, as Pausanias informs us, caiTied on an active 
trade with this coast of India. 

A a 2 



274! ASIA. CHAP. 11 

INDIA ET SIN^. SECT. XIII. 

names of the river Mcsolus^ and of the country Mcsolia, 
in Ptolemy, seem to be preserved in that of Masulipa- 
tam, of which the last member is a generic term for a 
city in this part of India. We are inclined to believe 
that Palura is represerfted by Sipeler* which a celebra- 
ted pagoda distinguishes. Ptolemy places in its envi- 
rons a point wliich made a landmark in steenng towards 
the Golden Chersonese, but which it is singular enough 
to see farther south than Cape Comorin. — Resuming 
our course northward, we find Cocala in Sicacola. — C'c- 
linga, and the nation of Calinga, who extended as far as 
the mouths of the Ganges, are recognised in the name 
of Calinga-patam. — On the arm of another river with 
■which canals of the Ganges are known to communicate, 
and which bears the same name of Ganga, as an appella- 
tive term, another position called Palura corresponds 
•with that o^ Balasor; with which we shall conclude the 
detail of what we deem moit remarkable in this extre- 
mity of the hither India. 

Beyond the Ganges it must be premised, that to Pto- 
lemy the ancient geography is indebted for tlie principal 
circumstances which will be found susceptible of illus- 
tration by the modern. — A river which immediately 
succeeds the eastern issue of the Ganges, under the 
name of Catabeda, can be no other than that of Shatigan. 
—The places of 5aQfa and Berabonmiy which precede a 
point formed by the bending of the coast towards the 
east, are remaikable for aflRnity in name with those of 
Sedoa and Barabon: and this point called Temala is evi- 
dently that of Negra'is, insulated by arms of a river of 
the same name — Sahara., which succeeds, and which ^ 
gives the name to a gulf formed by a reflection of the 



CHAP. II. ASIA. 275 

SECT. XIII. INDIA ET 8IN/E. 

coast southward, maybe Bragu, at the principal entrance 
of A{i I.— A capital city under the name of Mareura, is 
found in thai of Mero; which is approached from the 
sea by different channels of the same river.— The 
country named Besyngitis, at the bottom of the Sinus 
Sabaracus, corresponds with the situation of Pegu.— 
Thence following the coast, we find Berobe, which may 
be represented L)v Merghi: and Lacola, which is con- 
tiguous to the jiurea Chersonesus, or Golden Penin- 
sula, will consequently be Junkselon, as being at the 
narrowest part of the isthmus that joins the Malayan pe- 
ninsula to the continent. Our surprise is diminished at 
the strange disfiguration of this peninsula by Ptolemy, 
when we find similar errors of this geographer in the 
hither parts of India; which, as being less remote, might 
have afforded opportunities of information. The pe- 
ninsula is well known to be terminated by Cape Roma- 
nia, which should be the Magnum Promontorium of Pto- 
lemy. This promontory he furnishes with two posi- 
tions; one immediately on this side, the other in the like 
situation on the opposite. The first is named Zaba, and 
cited by Ptolemy, in his Prolegomena, as a principal 
port in departing from the Golden Chersonese for more 
distant countries. The name of the other is Thagora. 
These places are recognised in positions precisely cor- 
respondent with those which each is made to occupy in 
Ptolemy: Zaba agrees with Batu-Saber, on the river of 
Johr, towards the end of the peninsula, communicating 
the name of Saban to the extremity of the Strait of Ma- 
lacca; while the other preserves the name of Thagora, 
under the form of Pingoran. Thus it is indubitable that 
the Magnum Promontorium which Ptolemy indicates 



276 ASIA. CHAP.n. 

INDIA ET SINjE. sect. XIII. 

between Zada and Tkagora, is the great cape of the Ma- 
lay territory, between Saban, or Si.ber, and Tingoran. 
A position much anterior to the jjjreat promontory, and 
named Ferimula^ must consequently be applied to Pera 
or Perac, on the Strait of Malacca; the entrance of 
which might have given occasion to Ptolemy to imagine 
a gulf called Perimulicus. We are indebted to him for 
indicating the name of Malay in that of Mleu-colon^ ap- 
plied to a particular poinl. — The Magnus Sinus, which 
by a sudden elevation of the coast towards the north in 
Ptolemy, as in the actual geography, succeeds immedi- 
ately, is, with the fullest evidence of which the subject 
is susceptible, the Gulf of Siam. — The great river which 
Plolemy leads to the western shore of this gulf, under 
the name of Daona, is that from which the city of Tana- 
serim, or Colony of Tana, borrows its name; and which 
is known to terminate its course not in the gulf of Siam, 
but in that of Bengal— But another considerable river, 
formed by the union of two streams, having its mouth 
in the bottom of the Magnus Sinus, can only be the Me- 
nan of the country of Siam, and whose name is appella- 
tive in this country for a river of the first magnitude, as 
Ganges and Sind are elsewhere. — Reflecting on the par- 
ticular circumstance of the combination of two rivers 
concurring with that of the name of Seri, appearing at 
its entrance in one of the earliest maps of the modern 
geography, we may conclude it to l)e the Serus of anti- 
quity. It is a little beyond the mouth of this river that 
Ptolemy establislies the confines of India without the 
Ganges, with a country which we think merits a sepa- 
rate treatise. 

But before entering upon this subject, we must re- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. Syr 

SBCT. XIII. INDIA ET SlJjJE. 

mark that the isles that we have left in a tract of sea, 
which, under the name Gangeticua Sinus, is infallibly 
the Gulf of Bengal. To answer to Bazacata (whose in- 
habitants were naked,) placed opposite the coast which 
tends to the south towards Cape Temala or Negrais, mo- 
dern geography recosj-nises Chedit: 6, inhabited by sava- 
ges of the nation of Mogos, wherewith the kingdom of 
Aracan, on the continent is peopled. — Faitheron, the 
Bona Fortune Iniultc. which some navigator who had 
the fortune to escape the cruelty of the Anthrofiofihqgi 
who inhabit them might have thus named, can be no 
other than the great Andaman.— Of the same descrip- 
tion of Savages were those who inhabited the little isles 
of Manio/te, which being placed adjacent to the prece- 
dent towards the south, correspond precisely with those 
of which the principal is named Chique Andaman.— .6a- 
ruHsx, Sinda, Subadib<e, also attributed to cannibals, suc- 
ceeded in the same order that is observed in the isles of 
Nicobar, assembled into many clusters, which are divi- 
ded by spacious channels. The last of these, which are 
described as near an ultimate land named Jahadii Insula^ 
must be Pulo-Wai, opposite the head of Sumatra. It 
may be remarked that the Malay term of Pulo has suc- 
ceeded that of Div, or Dib, employed in the name > f 
Sadadiba: and that the notice of their number, which is 
three, is found to be correct — Ptolemy had indeed an 
idea that the Jabadii Inaula contained a greater space 
than the precedent isles; for he finds in it two degrees 
of the meridian on the same parallel, instead of limiting 
himself to a single degree of latitude and longitude, as 
in each article of these isles. And this distinction shows 
an evident relation to the manner in which Sumatra pre-^ 



are ASIA. CHAP.n. 

INDIA KT SIN^ SBCT. XIII. 

sents itself in the sequence of the isles included in the 
Gulf of Bengal. The site of the capital, which is the 
"Western point, corresponds with that occupied by Ashem: 
and though this capital is called Argenta by Ptolemy, he 
nevertheless specifies the opulence in gold which distin- 
guishes Sunutra, but whose southern extremity re^ 
xnained unknown to this geographer. 

SiNA. We have seen the India beyond the Ganges 
terminated at the head of the Magnus Sinus, or the Gulf 
of Siam, by limits which separate it from the country 
of the Sina, It is evident in modern geography, that 
these limits are the same that separate Siam from Cam- 
boja. We know that this country, and Cochin-China 
"which is contiguous, occupy a great tract of land which 
the sea envelops on three sides, from the east to the 
west by the south. The exterior limits of the farther 
India were the barriers of the world, when Ptolemy 
passed them, and described a remoter country, till then 
unknown by name. But he amplifies its longitude a 
whple hemisphere to arrive at a term which is known 
much less remote. Counting from the meridian of the 
Fortunate Isles as we dp, he advances to 1 48 degrees, 
or more, the eastern arm of the Ganges; which, by as- 
tronomical observations of our days made on the western 
arm of that river, is fixed at about 108 degrees: hence it 
results, that by a proportionate reduction, the 180** of 
Ptolemy only hold the place of 130*. And the ulterior 
part respecting the Ganges must suffer a still greater 
diminution, bc( ause the observations made at Siam only 
add ten degrees and a half to the longitude from the 
znouth of the G-anges, in a space where Ptolemy em- 
ploys more than twenty degrees. If it then be reinarii- 



CHAP. II. ASIA. sre 

SECT. XIII. INDIA ET SIN^. 

"ed, that the longiiude of Cochin-China, which nmst be 
regarded as the eastern boundary of the world known to 
the ancients, only amounts to 127 degrees, this distance 
will be found sufficient, nevertheless, to fill the 180 de- 
grees of Ptolemaic longitude.— Such an examination 
becomes necessary to correct the error that has hitherto 
prevailed in the maps, of representing the Sinarum Re- 
gio as China. The oriental geographers, to whom the 
country of the Sines must have been well known, com- 
prise its capital in the zone of the first climate; which, 
rising to twenty degrees and a half, does not extend to 
China; but by an extravagant error, Sinarum Metrofiolis 
has been applied to Nan-kin, in the thirty-second de- 
gree. The imperial rank of the last mentioned city, to 
which it did not attain till towards the close of the fourth 
century, could not have caused it to be thus distinguish- 
ed by Ptolemy, who lived under the Antonines, about 
two ages before. The Chinese do not acknowledge the 
name that we have given to their nation. They are fond 
of borrowing, for the purposeof distinction, the name of 
some dynasties, whose memory is precious to them: and 
above all, from that of Han, which commenced two hun- 
dred and some years before the Christian aera, they de- 
nominate themselves Han-ngin, or the People of Han: 
and by an idea which they have of the mqst advantage- 
ous situation of their country, they call it Tchon Koue, 
or the Middle Kingdom. But the name of Sines is pre- 
served in that of Cochin-China; which, without the al- 
teration that it has suffered on the part of Europeans, is 
Kao-tsii'-Sin. The Arabs have found the name of Sin 
in the country where Ptolemy knew the Sines. The 
name of Singi, which the Indians as well as the Arabs 



280 


ASIA. 


CHAP. n. 




INDIA ET SINiE. 


SECT. XIII. 



give to the sea which involves this country, is a deriva- 
tion from the same name. This name of Sin has follovir- 
ed the progress of navigation and commerce, beyond 
the true limits of the ancient country of Sin; having 
been extended by the t^ortuguese, who preceded the 
other western nations in these remote longitudes, and be- 
came common among those which have followed. And 
that the country of Sina ought not to be transported to 
CJliina, as it appears in all the maps which have prece- 
ded those of M. D'Anville, is an article in ancient geo- 
graphy which may justify the foregoing discussion. 

The capital of the Sines is named Thyme by Ptole- 
my; and according to the Latin version, which is re- 
garded as a text, Sir.e. Its position appears at a distance 
from the sea, at the mouth of a river named Cotiariay 
having communication on the left with another river, 
whose name was Senus, This then can be no other than 
the great river of Camboja; which, eighty leagues above 
its mouth, divides into two branches. The principal, 
or that of the right corresponding with the Cotiaris, and 
which is called the Japanese river, conducts to a city of 
•which the Arabian geographers speak as being celebra- 
ted for its commerce, under the name of Loiikin; and 
this position appears to answer to that of Thint^ in Pto- 
lemy. But the city of the Sines, named Sin by the Ara- 
bian geographers, and the Chinese ntemoirs Tehen-te- 
hen, is a position more remote than Loukin, and is found 
distinguished bv the name of Sin-hoa, as having been 
the most flourishing city of Cochin-China before its port 
•was destioyed by alluvions of sand. The name of Tho- 
an hoa, which its district bears, seems, together with 
the other circumstances reported, to favour the appjica- 



CHAP. II. 



SECT. XIII. INDIA ET SIKj 



tion of the name of Tliinx to this city also. Thinx is 
mentioned diversely in many authors of antiquity.— -In 
Ptolemy, two promontoi'ies succeed on the eastern shore 
of the Magnus Sinus; JVoiium^ or the southern, and Sali- 
rorum^ or that of the satyrs. Opposite this last are little 
isles of the same name, which the Arabian geographers, 
as well as Ptolemy, people with a species of animals 
furnished with tails, as satyrs are represented. Apes of 
a stature almost human, in the little isles named Pulo 
Condor, situated in the distance opposite the mouth of 
the river Camboja, may have caused them to be so called. 
But that a single point of position for three little isles in 
Ptolemy should be transposed to the islands of Japan in 
the maps, is an error too gross to be passed unnoticed. . 
Can it be conceived that Ptolemy carried his observation 
thus far, when so limited was his intelligence of this ex- 
tremity of the ancient world, that he represents, as suc- 
ceeding the promontory of the satyrs, a prolongation of 
the coast, which, turning to the west, proceeds to join 
the western coast of Africa, and thus makes the Ery- 
ihrean Sea a basin that has no communication with the 
Ocean? Were it here proper to examine the state of 
geography in different ages, it would appear that this 
error existed more than a thousand years after Ptolemy, 
although the maritime coinmerce was maintained under 
the Moslem princes. But it is sufficient to have shown 
how much the limits of ancient Asia should be con- 
tracted. 



B b 



CHAPTER 111. 
A F R I C A. 



SECTION FIRST. 
jEGYPTUS, 



EGYPT is comprised properly in a long valley, wbich 
from north to south, following the course of the river 
vV/Zf, extends more than six degrees, and is so contract- 
ed in breadth as to appear only a scantlet of land- But 
at the issue of this valley the country expands to give a 
passage to the different branches by which this river 
communicates with the sea, and adds to the extent of 
the country a degree and a half of latitude. All that is 
beyond the reach of the derivations from the river is a 
sterile and uncultivated land; which, from the summit 
of the mountains that form the valley, extends on one 
side to the Arabic Gulf, and has no other inhabitants 
than a race of nomades or pastors: while the western li- 
mits are confounded in the deserts of Libya — Govern- 
ed from immemorial time by its own kings, whether in 
a single monarchy, or in separate kingdoms, Egypt sub- 
mitted at length under Cambyses, son of Cyrus, to the 
yoke of the Persians, which it sustained but impatiently. 
To this dynasty succeeded, by dismemberment of the 
empire of Alexander, the reign of the Ptolemies, which 
continued till the reduction of the country into a Roman 
province under Augustus. And it was conquered from 
the Eastern empire by the Arabs, under the khalifat of 
Omar in the seventh century. Its name in the sacred 



^84 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

jEgyptus. sect. I. 

wiiiings is Mhrciin^ which it owes to one of the sons of 
Cham: and it retainy the name of Missir or Mesr under 
the Turks. There appears no doubt that the name of 
Copt, which distinguisiies the remains of the original na- 
tion from ihe Arabs, who are in great numbers in the 
country, and from the Turks who rule it. is in the form 
of Kypt (which is the proper modification of it) no other 
than the root of the Greek name Mgijptxis. 

To this introduction we shall add what concerns the 
distinction of the severah regions of iEgypl; capitally di- 
vided into Superior and L'ferior. This last partition is 
comprehended wiibin the two principal branches of the 
Nile from its division to its mouths; and the triangular 
figure of a Gieek letter which it resembles, has occa- 
sioned it to be cdled the Delta. But it must be added 
that the country of JEgiifiCits Inferior surpasses both on 
the east and west the natural limits of the Delta, and is 
now called Bahri, and Hif; both which terms signify in 
the Arabic a district bordering on the sea. As to JEgyptus 
Sitperior., we find it separated from the precedent by a 
particular province, whose name of Hepta-nowis de- 
notes it to have been composed of the union of seven 
districts or prefectures, which in Egypt are called 
A'br/ie,*, of which more than fifty arc distinguished in 
the detail which antiquity furnishes of this country; and 
whereof thirty are as old as the reign of Sesostris. The 
distinction of this province still subsists in the name of 
Vostani, which expresses in Arabic an intermediate 
space, as relating to Bahri on one side, or Said, or the , 
superior country on the other. Towards the cata- i^', 
ract which formed the boundary of i£gypt and ancient 
^Ethiopia, a territory owed to the famous Thebes its 



(J HA p. HI. AFIUCA. 285 



AGYPTUS. 



proper denomination of Thebais: such was tlie ancient 
division of ^gypt. But in tlie multiplication of the 
provinces of the empire, what lower iKgypt possessed 
beyond the arm of the Nile, which discharges itself be- 
low the modern position of Daniiat, composed in the 
fourth century a province under the name oi Jugustam- 
nica; and the name of jEgy/itus remained distinctive of 
the rest. Under Justinian, we see the Augustamnic di- 
vided into tvfo;^ra( and second; this mariiinie, and that 
inland. Corresponding with the ancient Augustamnica., 
is the modern district of Sharkie, so called from the 
Arabic term Shark, denoting the east, to distinguish it 
fiom another district, situated beyond a canal of the ri- 
ver, and named Garl.ie, fiom the term Garb, signifying 
the west. The Hefita-nomis took under Arcadius, son 
of the great Theodosius, the name of Arcadia. Finally 
we see the Thebaid in a posterior age divided into two, 
Anterior aniii Superior^ according to the terms which we 
find employed to distinguish these patts. — To treat of 
jEgypt in detail, we deem it expedient to depart from 
the shore of the sea, as less remote, and ascend the Nile 
towards Ethiopia. 

JEgyptus Infkhior. This division ex'ends along 
the sea, according to tlie limits assigned to it by Hero- 
dotus, from a gulf to which a pldce called FLintldne 
communicates the name ot Flinhinrtts^ as fir as Mount 
CasiuSf adjacent to the Sirboni..,n Bc-g. — On tht. point of 
what is now called the Gulf of Arubs, r../io.sins is indi- 
cated in Abousir. — l"o some other obscure pldcts suc- 
ceeds the site oi Alexandria. A i.ng cd d nariow isle 
named Pharos^ was there j ined to tlie continent by a 
B u 2 



'2S6 AFRfCA. CHAP. Jll. 

/ECYPTUS. SECT. I. 

dyke or causey, which, from its definite length was na- 
inecl Hefita- Stadium. It separated the two ports of the 
city, which was bounded by lake Mareb'tis on the other 
side. The advantage of lliis situation, on a shore to 
which nature has given no other port, determined Alex- 
ander to found a city on the site of a more ancient place 
named R/iacoiis, and which continued to distinguish the 
quarter of the city from which the causey was protract- 
ed. Another quarter of greater extent, named Bruchi- 
on, on the princip^d {-f the two ports, comprised several 
palaces which the Ptolemies inhabited. The power to 
which Alexa7iclria arrived, in becoming the great mart 
for exchange between the East and West, is well 
known. And this advantage principally aiose from its 
local circumstances. To satisfy a curiosity which the 
reader may have to be better acquainted with a city of 
the first rank in the ancient world, he is referred to an 
appropriate treatise on Egypt, by M. D'Anville, con- 
taining, with a topographical plan minutely exact, a de- 
scription much more circumstantial than can be admit- 
ted here. It will be seen that an accumulation of earth 
formed about the Hc/itastadium is the site of the modem 
city; and that an inclosure which must have been pos- 
terior to the age of antiquity, contains scarcely any thing 
but ruins. — The lake Mai-td'us, which does not press 
upon the city so closely as it did heietofore, preserves 
its name in the form of Birk Mariout — At a little dis- 
tance from Alexandria, and on the same shore, a place 
whose name of jVicofiolis commemorated an advantage 
obtained by Augustus over Antony, is now changed into 
Kasr Kicscra. or the Castle of the Caesars. — Farther on, 
CanofiuSf a place condemned for the licentious morals 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 287 



.EGYPTU9. 



of its inhabitants, occupied a point advanced in the sea, 
on which there is known a castle named Aboukir, or 
the Bekier. — One of the principal mouths of the Nile, 
which from this city was called Canofncum Ostium is 
that now named Maadiei or the Passage, beyond Bekier. 
But by the changes that have taken place in the mouths 
of the river, the Bolbiiinum Ostium, whither it is con- 
veyed by the canal which passes before Rashid (called 
by the Franks Rosetta,) has supplanted the Canopic 
mouth in the advantage which it heretofore bore. The 
Canopic is the issue of one of the principal branches of 
the Nile, called Agathos Damon, or the Good Genius, in 
Ptolemy; and which, forming one side of the Delta, se- 
parates it from what in Lower Egypt is named Bahire. 
— Hermofiolis, with the qualification of fiarva^ to distin- 
guish it from a greater of the sanje name in the Hepta- 
nomis, accords with the position of Demenhur. — On the 
border of the river, Andropolis and Gijnxco/iolis, as they 
appear to have been contiguous, are probably represent- 
ed by Shabur and Selamun, at the aperture of the canal 
which passes by Demenhur — The desert where lakes 
afford nitre is distant from the river: and there is men- 
tion of •A'iVrra as the name of a city. This is the country 
called Scithiaca in Ptolemy; and in the name Scete, fre- 
quently mentioned in the legends of the hermits of this 
desert, is preserved in the form of Askit, in a monastery 
which the name of Saint Macaire distinguishes from 
others. The place name Terane, where the natron, as 
it is called in the coimtry, is embarked on the Nile, finds 
the ancient form of its name in T renuthis. 

Passing into the Delta, we recognise Metelis on the 
river, in the name of Missil, which the Coptic diction- 



288 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

^.GYPTUS. SECT. I. 

aries give to a gieat city that has taken the name 
Foiia. — The Milesians, ascending the Nile, had founded 
u city named JVaucratis. — Sais is mentioned as the capi- 
tal of this part of the inferior ^gypt, where a place still 
bears the name of Sa.— 7azi« retains the same name.— 
.Yiiii having the first rank in a Nome called Proso/ii(e,<i, 
discovers itself in the name of Nikios — The isle ProsO' 
/li(is) formed by two canals, had a city which, under the 
name of Atarbechis^ was consecrated to Venus; and ano- 
ther where liie Athenians sustained a loni^ siege from 
the Persians, and whose n&n\Q oi Byblos appears in that 
of Babel. — At thesu nn. t of the Delta the Nile dividi^s 
into tinee channels, there being an intermediate one be- 
tween the two principal branches. To this canal is join- 
ed, among other derivations, one issuing from the river 
a little bgiow the position of Sebennijtus^ which subsists 
in the name of Scmenud. The continuation of these 
canals, re-united in a great lake, which from the city of 
Butus on its southern shore was called Buticus, takes at 
the aperture of this lake its issue in the sea, under a 
place named Faralus^ or Berelos: and this issue is the 
Sebe?inynctcm Ostium. This maritime part being ex- 
tremely fenny, was called Elearchia; and in this fastness 
an ^Egyptian prince maintained himself against the Per- 
sian forces, in the reign of Artaxerxes the Long-hand- 
ed. — Vestiges of a city called Tekebi in the Coptic 
books, seeni to be the same with Puchnainunis; and 
Onuphis IS represented by a place named Banub — Bit' 
siris and Xut were cities of note on the river a little 
above Semennud: the first is known in the name of Bu- 
sir; and the second, situated in an isle, could not have 
fecen far distant. — To the Sebennyiic mouth succeeds 



AFRICA. 289 



iEGYFTUS. 



the P/iat?it(icufn Ostium, and this, which in the time of 
antiquity yielded in magnitude only to the Ccitwpic and 
Pelusiac mouths, is now one of the principal emissions 
of the river a little below Damiat. — The name of Tami- 
atliis^ mentioned in an age which immediately precedes 
the termination of the object of ancient geography, ap- 
pears a modification of Damiat. — The three eastern 
mouths, including the Pelusiac, are received before their 
communication with the sea, into a great lagune or pool, 
whose name is not mentioned by any ancient writer; but 
which the places Manzaie and Tennis now cause to be 
designated by their names. — The Mendesium Ostium., 
now called Di'oe, and by ih» Franks Peschiera, derived 
its name from Mendes; and this cityj as well as that of 
T/imuis, according to the concurring testimony of the 
learned, owe their respective denominations to the goat 
which was there adored. The position of Ashmun-Ta- 
nah may represent the first, and abundant vestiges of the 
second appear to preserve the name of it in the form of 
Tmaie. — Panefihysis must also be mentioned, in a situ- 
ation adjacent to the lake; a circumstance ihat justifies 
the application also of the name Diosfiolis to it. And of 
cities appearing under two names, the one iEgyptian, 
the other Greek, there are several examples through- 
out jEgypt. The place now most considerable on this 
margin of the lake, is Manzaie. — Tanis, a royal city, 
whose name appears Zoan in the Scriptures, preserves, 
though abandoned to a few shepherds, vestiges in the 
name of San, not far from that aperture of the lake na- 
med Taniticum Ostium, but now called Eumme-farreg- 
g6. — Tennesus, of which there is not mention till an age 
posterior to the first antiquity, is an insular position in 



290 AFRICA. CHAP. HI. 



the lake itself, and now called renins. That of Sethron 
on the lake, towards the Pelusiac channel, manifests the 
position of Sethrunii otherwise called Heracleofiolis 
Parva. 

Pf/i<s««7z, the hi.ihvavk and the key of ancient ^gypt, 
is now known by its ruins in the Arabic name of Tineh, 
which supplies in signification its ancient denomination, 
whereby the miry situation of this city was expressed. 
— Upon the coast, Mount Casivis, of no great elevation, 
projects a promontory named Cape del Kas, or the Chi- 
sel; and the adjacent place named Caniiim is called Ca- 
tich— The Pains Sirbonis, which is in the vicinity, "and 
where Typhon the Tnurde!*lfer of Osiris is said to have 
perished, has taken the name of Sebaket Bardoil, from 
the first king of Jerusalem of that name, who died oh 
his return from an expedition in ^Egypt, at a place call- 
ed el-Arish, the ancient Rhinocorura, whither this fron- 
tier extended, having encroached on the former limits 
of the Philistine country. — Osiracine, which had a posi- 
tion less remote, is indicated by a fragment of its name 
in a point called Straki. — The entrance of a ravine into 
the Sirbonian Pool, receiving the pluvial waters of many 
torrents, which con>e from the desert comprised in the 
extent of Arabia Petrxa, is the Torrenn JEgij/iti of the 
Scriptures; which, according to Saint Jerome, passes be- 
tween Rhinocorura and Pekisium. This canton, cover- 
ed with deep and moving sands, and called by the Arabs 
for this reason al-Giofar, has in all ages rendered the 
approach to yEgypt in this quarter, extremely diflicult to 
an enemy. 

Re-approaching the Nile, we recognise, in the inter- 
val of the Pelusiac and Tanitic channel, the position of 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 291 

SECT. I. .EGYPTUS. 

Leontopolis, in a phice "umed Tel-Essabe or the Hill'of 
the Lion. — And ascendius^ above the division of the Pe- 
lusiac channel, we find Athribis^ a considerable city in 
the name of Atrib, on the eastern branch of the river; to 
•which by this position the Y\i\n\e. oi At hribiiicus becomes 
more applicable to the interniediiiie emanation, as in 
Ptolemy. — Bubauus.^ a city of equal dignity with the 
preceding', and whose name in the Scripture is Pibe- 
setf which is now altered into Basta, is on a canal de- 
rived from the Pelusiac branch to the right. This ca- 
nal, which had been dug by king Necos, in an expedi- 
tion to the Arabic Gulf, had its aperture at a place na- 
med Phacusa, the distance whereof from Pelusium is in- 
dicated to us. The canal that passes Basta leads to the 
position of the ancient Pliarbcethusy now Belbeis, where 
another canal is received, called Khalitz-Abu-Meneggij 
which is the Trajanus Amnis of Ptolemy; and which, 
according to his report, passes by Herobjwlis. We learn 
elsewhere that it terminated in lakes, whose waters na- 
turally salt, were thereby sweetened. The communi- 
cation was not obtained with the gulf till the reign of 
Ptolemy Philadelphus; and there is reason to believe 
that this canal in the time of Cleopatra was no longer 
navigable. There are nevertheless some traces of it 
still visible between Suez and lake Sheib. — HercoJioHsf 
from which one of the cieeksof the Arabic Gulf was call- 
ed Hercbpolites^i^ the Pithow mentioned in the EJebrew 
Scriptures as a city constructed by the Israelites, and the 
P atumos oi \.\\^ Arabic country of iEgypt in Herodotus. 
And it may be added, from concurrent circumstances, 
that the place of arms, of vast extent, called Auaris by 
Josephus, where the shepherd kings held Egypt in sub* 



292 



-€GYPTUS. 



jection, waslbe site of Here opolis. — Thaubastum, which, 
by the means aflForded us of ascertaining both one and the 
other position, is found to be very near, retains its name 
in the form of Habaseh, towards the head of the lake 
Sheib before mentioned. 

To finish the survey of Lower iEgypt, we must turn 
towards the Nile. It is remarkable to find the Vicua 
Judaornm in the modern denomination of Tel-el-Iudieh, 
or the Hill of the Jewry; and to recognise there the site 
of a temple in which the Jews, offending against the 
law which denied their nation any other sanctuary than 
that of Jerusalem, practised their worship during two 
hundred and forty-three years, to the reign of Vespa- 
sian. — Among the places' of the first rank was HeliofiO' 
lis, so called from its primitive and Coptic denomina- 
tion of 072, which signifies the Sun. It was afterwards 
called by the Arabs Ain-Shems, or the Fountain of the 
Sun, and it still preserves vestiges in a place named 
Ma-tarea, or Cool Water. — Babylon was an habitation 
formed by the Persians, which may with probability be 
referred to the time of the conquest of Egypt by Cam- 
byses. A quarter retaining the name of Baboul, or Ba- 
bilon, in the city commonly called Old Cairo, which 
overlooks the Nile at some distance above the Delta, 
shows its true position: and in the same place was also 
distinguished a pyre or pile, consecrated to the worship 
of fire, according to the leiigion of the Persians, It is 
immediately below, that the Khalltz, which traverses Ca- 
iro, issues from the Nile. This canal, in an Arabian au-- 
thor who has written professedly on Egypt, bears the 
name of Adrian: and we know that this empeior was 
also called Trajan by adoption. 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 29.5 



Hevt Avouis, fiostea Akcadia. Memfihis is the first 
object that atuacts our noiice in this division of Et^ypt. 
It owed its foundation to a king in the first ages of 
^gypt named Uchoreus, was a city predominant over 
all in .(Egypt, before Alexandiia was elevated to this ad- 
vantage; and was situated on the western shore of the 
Nile, fifteen miles above the Delta. These indications 
are the only ineans afforded ns of ascertaining its posi- 
tion. And by the knowledge of the combination and re- 
ciprocal use made of the itinerary measures proper to 
antiquity, those which we have just cited are reconciled, 
as is fully shown in a work by M. D'Anville, referred to 
above, in which iEgypt is described much more circum- 
stantially than the concise nature of this will permit. 
The lapse of time had so impaired this great city when 
Strabo wrote, that he saw its palaces in ruins. It existed 
nevertheless about six hundred years after; for, on the in- 
vasion of jEgypt by the Arabs, it appears under the name 
of the country itself or Mesr. But vestiges of it, which 
accordmg to Abulfeda, were apparent in the fifteenth 
century, are no longer in being.^Divers canals derived 
from the Nile, separating Memphis from the ancient 
sepulchres and pyramids, furnished the Greeks with the 
idea of their infernal rivers Acheron^ Cocytus> ami Lcihe. 
—On the bank of the Nile opposite to Memphis, a place 
which it is pretended was named Troja by the Trojans 
who followed Menel ij. into jEgypt, is now indicated by 
the analogous name of I'ora. 

The valley in which the Nile flows is contracted in 
this pkice by the moimtuin that reigns on the ej^tern 
side, under the name of Arabicus Mons; while it opens 
Cc 



294 AFRICA. CHAF. HI. 

.EGYPTUS. SECT. I. 

a communication on the other side, through the Libijcua 
M'jiis^ with a canton vvhicii seems iiisulatccl front the rest 
of the country. — druinoc^ otherwise QrocQclilofiolis^ wt^s 
the chief city in this district, which is now named Feium. 
It is ivUOvvn to be covered on the north side by a lake 
which by Strabo and Ptolemy is called Maris, but which 
cannot be the Moeris of Herodotus and Diodorus. The 
lake alluded to by these authors under that name, is an 
excavation by human labour, and not a work of nature, 
as that of Feium. A discussion v. herein all the circum- 
stances concerning this object are examined, is adapted 
only to a particular treatise, such as that already men- 
tioned. But it may here be oI>served, than an artificial 
reservoir of three thousand six hundred stadia in .cir- 
cumference, has appeared incrediijle to many who have 
considered the subject; especially as a measure under 
this denomination, much inferior in length to the com- 
mon or Olympic stadium, was not known. The true Mw' 
ris mentioned by Herodotus and Diodorus, is found in a 
trench whose length from north to south, conformable to 
the repoi t of Herodotus, lakes about nine hundred stadia 
of the ancient ..Egypiian measure: so that if this sum of 
the length of the lake Moeris be multiplied l)y four, the 
number of stadia of its breadth, the amount will be three 
thousand six hundred stadia for the square contents of its 
surface; but notforthe measureof its perimeter or circuit 
according to the iinpropei term used b\ Herodotus. This 
trench is now called Bathen, or the Deep. — A Labyrinth 
contiguous to the Moeris, and Cimsiructed by twelve 
Uiiigs, who goveiiied iEgypt conjoirjtly, stiil preserves 
con::.picuous vestiges: and that which Strabo mentions 
as appropriated to the convention of the chiefs of nomes, 



CHAP. IIT. AFRICA. 295 



.EGYPTUS. 



and as situated in the jurisdiction of Ardnte^ is also 
found in a piace named H.iura. 

Tlie valley of the Nile is not so spacious in any other 
place as in a part of the Heptanonas — Heracleojiolis., 
distinpjuished by the surname of Magna., by contradis- 
tinction from that before mentioned in the Delta, was, 
with the extent of its district, comprised in an isle be- 
tween the river and the laternal ditch of Mceiis; which, 
as Strabo and Ptolemy knew this situation, it is surpri- 
sing; that they did not more correctly indicaie. — 1 he 
worship rendered to a fish with a pointed nose, occa- 
sioned the naiTie of Oxy-rynchu^ to be applied to a con- 
siderable city apart from the Nile; and whose position 
cannot be betier ascribed than to Behnese, on the canal 
Avhich drawn from the river above the derivation that 
conducts to the Mceris, is received into the Feium, and 
called by the Copts, Barh Jusef, as imputed to the patri- 
arch Joseph. — Cynofiolis, or the City of the Dog, which 
in wiEgypt Was adored under the name of Anubis, was 
limited to a holm in the Nile, having opposite to it 
another city n^med Cdi.— The situation of Hermofiolis 
Magna^ or the Great City of Mercury, is well known 
to be that retained by Ashmunein; which, if a tradition 
of the country may be credited, owes this name to Ish- 
mun, son of Misraim, the ancestor of the ^Egyptian na- 
tion. Within this district the Heptanomis terminates in 
an interval of two military posts, one called Hermofioli' 
tana Phylace., ciud the other Thebaica Phylace.——WQ re- 
cognise in this canton a Tanis in the name of Tauna, 
upon the canal which issues from the_Nile at the place 
where the Theban guard had its post. — Oasis Magna 
and Parva were dependencies of the Heptanomis. The 



296 AFRICA. CHAP. m. 

jEgyptus. sect. I. 

situation of the latter is not known; and we shall de- 
fer speaking of the greater till we treat of the Thebais, 
as being about the same height. — On the right of the 
Nile, where the valley is closely contracted by a moun- 
tain, Ap.hroditofioiis appears lo correspond with a place 
now culied Atfiei);and the name of Ibrit, which is given 
to its distiict, is only an alieration oi that of its princi- 
pal biitg. — Remarkable groitos, liollowed in the moun- 
tain for temples, near a place called IJenihassan may 
have appertained to that of SpeoH-Ariemidon — There 
remains on tb.is side to be mentioned Antino'e^ which be- 
ing primitively but an obscure place named Bt-sa^ be- 
came a city whose vestiges manifest the magnificence 
of the Emperor Adrian, in perpetuating the memory of 
an infamous favourite. The denomination of this city 
is now altered to Ensene; and a revered sepulchre has 
also caused it to be called Shek-Abacie. 

^GYPTUs Superior, -vel Thebais. After having 
passed Cw.sa, now Cussie, in the Thebais, wc find Lyco- 
polis, or Lycon, the City of Wolves; which, a little dis- 
tant from the Nile on the left, is still a place of consid- 
eration, under the name of Siut, or Osiot. A little be- 
yond, vestiges of Hyfiselis are recognized in a place 
named Sciotb: Abolis subsists in Abouiig; and the ruins 
of Afiollinis Minor Civitas are in a place named Sedaf6. 
On the other side, Selinon is found in the name of Silin; 
and Anttsopolis., so called from Antaeus, who governed 
Libya and Ethiopia under Osiris, retains vestiges in a 
place named Kauil-Kubbara. — Ascending the river, wc 
find the ^Egyptian denomination of Chevimis remaining 
in Ekmim, that of Fanofiolis or City of Pan, given to it 
by the Greeks, not having been adopted in the usage of 



CHAP. Iir. AFRICA. 297 

SECT. I. ^GYPTJJS. 

the country. — Repassini^ the Nile, we observe Aphro- 
ditopolis^ consecrated to Venus, and Crocoditopolis^ to the 
Crocodile, in the ruins of two places named Itfu and 
Adribe. — Ptolemais^ constructed under the dynasty of 
the Pioleniies, after the manner of the Greek cities, be- 
came one of the most powerful in Upper iEgypi. with 
the surname of Herinii; the signification whereof is not 
known. It preserves vestiges in an inconsiderabie place 
named Menshie — Girge, which, a little above it. is now 
the principal city of SaYd, dees not appear to ha\e ex- 
isted more than three hundred years; and the place which 
a city named This occupied in the earliest age, and in 
whose district Ptolemais was founded, is unknown.- — 
AbyduR^ the residence of Memnon, which was only in- 
ferior to the great Thebes, is buried in its ruins, as its 
modern name of Madfune expresses; and its situation in 
being distant from the Nile is conformable to the testi- 
mony of antiquity concerning it. — -Precisely on this par- 
allel is the Oasis Magna, We know that those insulated 
spots of fertility in the midst of a sandy main vvei e call- 
ed Oases. This was a place of exile during the Lower 
Empire: and it is characteristic of the imagination of 
the Greeks to have called it the Isle of the Blessed. 
The Oasis Magna is laid down in Mr. Bruce's map on 
the 26th degree of north latitude, under the nan.e of el- 
Wah and Shek Haled; and the Parva Oasis about half 
a degree north of the greater, on the same meridian by 
the name of Gawah Garbieh — At the sumniit of a sud- 
den flexure in the course of the Nile, Diosfiuiis Parva 

was situated, in a place now called How C/ienoboscion 

on the other side corresponds with the position named 
C c 2 



AFRICA. 



CHAP. Hi. 



^pvPTUS. 



Casr Essaid, or the Castle of the Fisherman.— -Towards 
the bottom of the other replication of the river, on the 
left bank, Tenfyrci, heretofore anionyj the most consid- 
erable cities, retains abundant remains in the name of 
Dender-ci; and nearly opposite, CanofioHs, or the New 
City, is represented by a place now named Ken6. — Cop- 
ton, or according- to its present form Kypt, situated on a 
canal communicating with the Nile, became a ipeat mart 
of commerce, by means of a road two hundred and fifty- 
seven miles in length, made by Ptolemy Philadelphus, 
across the desert, to the port of Bcrentce, in the Arabic 
Gulf, v/here the commodities of India were debarked*. 
This advantage, transported some centuries after, under 
the khalifs, to a place named Kous, on the same side of 
the river, caused this place, biit'inconsid 'Arable hereto- 
fore under the name of A/iolinofiolis Parva^ to becotne 
the most powerful city of Said. — It is presumed that 



* The intermediate positions, and which have long' since been 
overwhelmed by the sands, are thus expressed in the Antonine 
Itinerary. 



ITER A COPTO BERONICEM 


MP. CCLVIII SIC. 


POENICONICON 


XXVIT 


BIDIMIE .... 


XXIV 


APHRODITO 


XX 


COMPASI .... 


XXII 


J0VI3 .... 


XXXIII 


ARISIONIS . - . - 


XXV 


FALACRO - . - 


XXV 


APOLLONOS .... 


XXI 1 1 


CABALSI .... 


xxvn 


CENONDIDREUMA - 


xxvir 


BERONICEM . . - - 


XVIII 



CHAP. m. AFRICA. 299 

SECT. I. .fflGYPTUS. 

the position of Mux'nnianofiolis may be attributed to Ne- 
kadi, on the left side of the liver. 

We now arrive at Thebes, called by the Greeks Dios' 
polls Magna, or the great Cily of Jupiter. Ill-treated by 
Cambyses, aflervvtu-ds by Fhilopator, and at length un- 
der Augustus for its rebellion, this great city has ever 
since exhibited little else than magnificent ruins, inter- 
spersed anionsj the villages which occupy its site; and 
of which the most considerable is named Aksor, or Lux- 
or. What we read in some of the ancient writers con- 
cerning its extent, is intelligible only by a conversion of 
terms; for these authors give it 140 stadia of circumfer- 
ence, and 400 or 420 in length. But Strabo, who accom- 
pimied a governor of .(Egypt to Thebes, makes a side of 
the quadrangle equal to 80 stadia, which, being resolved 
into ^Egyptian stadia, scarcely differ from the 140 above 
mentioned. This soliuion of the difficulty will exhibit 
Thebes as a city of the fiist magnitude: its circuit being 
about nine French leagues, or twenty-seven Roman 
miles. Its fragments are indeed dispersed in many places 
considerably distant fioni each other; and on the oppo- 
site side of the river, or the left in descending, a great 
quarter was distinguished by the name of Memnonium, 
which is recognised to be that called Phatures in the 
Scriptures, and which retains stupenduous monuments. 
The sepulchres of the ^Egyptian kings, hewn in the Li- 
byan mountain are adjacent. — A little above, on the same 
side, Hermonthif! preserves its name, with remains also, 
in the form of Erment. — The circumstance of an Ajihro" 
ditopolis having taken the name of Asfun, justifies the 
opinion that it was the same city which we find cited 
among the military posts of the Thebais, under the 



AFRICA. 



.ffiGYPTUS. 



name of Aaphynis. — Laiofiolis, so called IVom llie fish 
that was there adored, bears now the name of Asna, 
which signifies illustrious. — Ruins of Jfiollvio/iolis Mag- 
7/aare recognised in a jjlace named YAh\.—-Hierac'nfio- 
Ns, a city consecrated to the hawk, wiis placed in its vi- 
cinity; and, on the other side, Elc-r/iyia, or the City of 
Lucina, had an altar on which human victims were im- 
molated. — The place of S'ilsiiis is remarkable for the 
circumstance that, coiresponding with what is named 
Gebel Silsili, or the iMount of the Chain, the shores of 
the river are so contracted between two mountains as to 
have induced the popular belief that there was a chain 
extended from one to the other. — The position of Om- 
bos is found in the name of Koum-Ombo, or the hill of 
On^bo. At leiigth we reach Syene, whose name in its 
modern form, having the article prefixed, is Assaun.— 
The isle of Eltphantine is but half a Stadium distant 
from it; and the cataract is seven stadia above the isle. 
Of two cataracts this is the least; the greater being in 
Nubia. It is occasioned by the intervention of a rock, 
composed of two members, the first of easy declivity, 
and the second, though more sudden, does not precipi- 
tate the water with such vehemence as to render the de- 
scent impracticable to small boats. — thiloe is another 
isle, but above the cataract; and which, small as it is, af- 
forded quarters, together with Syene and Elephantine, 
to the cohorts that guarded this frontier of the Roman 
Empire. — It should here be mentioned, that the Banan- 
zVes ik/ons, distant from the Nile on the right, is remark- 
able for quarries of hard and black stone, called Baram, 
which furnished the ./Egyptians with ornamental vases, 
and household utensils. 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 301 



iEGYPTUS. 



We now return to survey the shore of tlie Arabic 
Gulf. At ihe extremity of its western horn, the posi- 
tion of Ardnoe., which is also uientiotiecl under the name 
of Cleo/iatris^ corresponds with that of Suez.— South- 
ward of that, on the same shore, is Clysma, whose mo- 
dem name of Kolziim the Arabs have extended to the 
whole gulf. — A promontory turned in the figure of a 
scythe, was called for this reason Drepanum. — The My- 
Qs-hormost or Port of the Mouse othei wise called Aph- 
roditesi or of Venus, is covered with little isles, bearing 
also the name of Afihrodites: and their modern Arabic 
name of Sufaiigeuel-bahri, or the Sponge of the sea, has 
an evident unalogy in its signification to the etymon of 
the Greek, name And the name of Sufi/i, applied to the 
Arabic (iulf in the Scriptures is an appellative denoting 
aquatic plants. — The port which at present maintains 
the greatest correspondence with the country of Upper 
iEgypt, and called Coseir, represents that named Philo- 
teras'xw antiquity. — The Sniaragdus Mons appears to be 
but little distant from the sea; being that called by the 
Arabs iMuaden Uzzumurud, or the Mine of Emerals — . 
A point, under the name of Lejita Extrema^ is judged 
to correspond with that called by the Arabs Ras-al-enf, 
or the Top of the Nose.— At the entrance of a gulf 
which immediaiely succeeds this point, was Berenice^ 
the port whereof the position of Coptos has given us oc- 
casion to speak: and tiie circumstance of its being laid 
down by the ancient geographers in the same latitude 
wiih Syene, serves to ascertain its position. All this coast 
is inhabited by icthyo/ihagus Arabs, who had become sav- 
age by contracting alliances with ti'oglodytes, or dwellers 
in caverns. 



CHAP. in. 



.STIIIOPIA. 



SECTION SECOND. 

JETHIOPIA, 

NUBIA, ABYSSINIA, ScC. 

By ascending the Nile from the frontier of iEgypt, 
we shall penetrate into the heart of JLthiofiia If recur- 
rence be had to the several versions of tiie Scriptures, 
and to the testimonies of Joscphus and St. Jerom, it will 
be found that the name of Chuz, from the son of Cham, 
appertains to this country. That of India is -iso applied 
to it in several passages of the ancient writers. Ptolemy 
contracts it on the side of the west, because he indicates, 
under the name oi Lil)ya Interior, that which, from a 
concatenation of local circumstances, is judgt-d more 
proper to be included in the present article. The same 
distinction in the face of the country, between the lands 
adjacent to the Nile and those which are distant from it, 
as has been remarked of iEgypt, prevails in the country 
immediately succeeding, under the modern name of Nu- 
bian; and this to ju a. character has continued as far as 
Abyssinia. — Among many places on the banks of the 
Nile we recognise J-'rctnis in the nanae of Ibrim, as the 
Turks pronounce it, who extended their dominion thus 
far. In Ptolemy, this place is distinguished i:y th'' ad- 
junct of fiarva from another of the same name much 
more remote, which is now unk'town. — The great cata- 
ract, through a mountain called Genudel, is a little above 
Ibrim. These borders of the Nile were occupied by the 
Blemmijesy whose fik^ures must have been extraordinary; 
as we read in some ancient authors, that men brought from 



CHAP. 111. AFRICA. 303 



ETHIOPIA. 



this nation to Rome, under the en)peior Prohiis, appeal- 
ed monstrous to the Roman people. — The J\'obuttE^ who 
inhabited about the Oasis, were established near Ele- 
phaniis to rtsuuin the Blemmyes. It is under the name 
of al-Kennim, that the nulion possessing- lliis piwt of 
Nubia is known. A posilion named CambijKis jErariuiiiy 
denotes the deposit of tlie military chest of Cambysts, 
who pushed his expedition beyond the limits of ^gypt. 
This conqueror, after havint? departed from the Nile at 
Siout, passed the el-Wah, and traversed one of the dri- 
est and most difficult deserts, in which the greatest part 
of his army perished, found himself again on the bank 
of the Nile, at a place now named Moscho;* opposite 
to which is a holm called Argo, representing the posi- 
tion of Arhost in Ptolemy — An insult offered to the Ro- 
man name on tlie frontier of ^gypt, under the reign of 
Augustus, occasioned a Ron>an aimy to pass as far as 
JVafiata, which Avas the residence of a queen named Con- 
dace, and distant from tiie Arabic Guif by a journey of 
only three days. 

We must now speak of Ulei-oe, which the ancients be- 
lieved to be an island. T\so rivers, which tbe Nile re- 
ceived successively on the eastern side, jlfitafius and ^Is- 
taboras. would indeed insulate Merce, if these rivers 
iiad communication above. The latter is named in Abys- 
sinia. Tacazze. At its coi.fluence with the Nile, a city 
indicated by tiie Arabriun ^geographers in the name of 
lalac, should represent Mcroe, according to the position 
which Piolemy assigns to it. But we find a distance given 

* This is the route of the Abyssinian caravan, according to 
the map of Mr. Bruce. 



304 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

^,THIOPIA. SECT. II. 

from Icilac to ascend by the Nile to this city; whose 
name in the Arabian geography of Edrisi, is Nuabia, 
and common also to tlie cotmtry, as Meroe was in anti- 
quity. ^Egyptians banished by Psammitichus, and call- 
ed Sehiida, or S< rangers, obeyed a queen in possession of 
the kingdom of Meroe. — Farther on, at some distance 
east of the course of the Tacazze, was ^wj:u/«e, a royal ci- 
ty; which has preserved, with the name of Axum, some 
remains of those edifices tliat decorated the ^Egyptian ci- 
ties. It was in a place not far from this capital that P'ru- 
itientius, sent from Alexandria by St. Athanasins to teach 
the Abyssinians the Christian faith, established his resi- 
dence which from him is called Fremona. — The route to 
Auxume from Adulis, near the Arabic Gulf, conducted 
by a city named Colo'e which may be Dobarua, the resi- 
dence of an Abyssinian prince called Bahr-Nagash, or the 
King of the Maiitime Country. 

The Nile receives above the Astaboras^ as we have j 
said, on the sime side, a river named Astafius. The tes- '' 
timonies of tlie best informed authors of antiquity are 
definitive oii tnis sul)ject. This river then can be no other 
than the Abawiof the Abyssinians; the sources of which, 
since their discovery in the beginning of the last centu- 
ry, have been mistaken for tl.ose of the Nile, the great 
desideratum of all antiquity, and concerning which opin- 
ions were strangely divided. Ptolemy makes the AstU' 
fius issue from a morass or lake named Colo'e, which we 
recognise by this circumstance to be the Bahr Dambea, 
into vvhi( h the .\;),ivvi pours its rivulet.* It is well known 



* The readers of Mr. Biuce's Ti-avels will doubtless recog- 
nise the fountains of the Abawi to be those which that g'entlc- 



AFRICA. 305 



ETHIOPIA. 



that this river, which forms the limits of Abyssmia on 
entering those of Nubia, meets anotiier river coming 
from the interior parts of Africa; which, under the name 
of Bahr-el-abiad, or the White River, represents indu- 
bitably what the ancients called A'ilus, distinctively from 
that known to them by the name of Aaiajms. This topic 
it became necessary to discuss, for the refutation of the 
erroneous opinions hitherto received thereon. Besides, 
although the Nile of Ptolemy, issuing from two lakes at 
the foot of the Mountains of the Moon, may yet appear 
in geography, it is not deemed expedient at present to 
place these objects in the soutliern hemisphere. Coloe, 
which he places under the line, is actually more north- 
ward by twelve degrees. And it may be observed that, if 
the Nile came from beyond the equator, the periodical 
I'ains which, in the torrid zone, follow the course of the 
sun on each side of the equinoctial line, would cause an 
inundation of that river in more than one season. Con- 
suiting the Arabian geographers, we find that they add 
a third lake to the two lakes of Ptolemy; from which, be- 
sides the Nile of ^gypt, as they express it, issues an- 
other river called the Nile of Negroes. But it is not ne- 
cessary to account for the inundation of another river, 
by supposing a division of the waters of the Nile; seeing 
that a cuuse equal and simultaneous produces the peri- 



man visited with so much triumph. They will probably remark 
also, that the name of D'Anville is not once mentioned through- 
out the whole ot his work. Did Mr. B. deem the opinion of this 
famous geographer unworthy of refutation, or was he unac- 
fjuaiutcu vvl'vli his writings! 

Da 



306 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

.ffiTHIOPIA. SECT. II. 

odicai intumescence of all rivers rising in the same cli- 
mate. We learn however, that at the time of the increase, 
a canal named Bahr-el-azurek,or the Blue River, affords 
a communication between the Nile and a river of a coun- 
try known by the name of Bournou. Ptolemy, informed 
of more circumstances of the interior parts of Africa 
than any other ancient geographer, has given us this ri- 
ver under the name of Gir; deriving its origin from 
what is called Vallis Garamantica; and it is thought that 
this name is perceived in the Gorham of modern geo- 
graphy. — A lake placed between this river and the Nile, 
and called A''uba Pains, is found in that whereon a town 
is seated, named Kaugha. — If the name of the JVuda hG 
found often repeated, it is in the environs of the Nubian 
pool that they should be more particularly placed. — We 
see in Ptolemy a derivation from the Gir towards the 
moor or pool named Chelonides or of Tortoises: and the 
Arabian geography makes mention of a river, which, 
afterpassing the city of Koukou, the residence of a prince, 
flows for a journey of many days to the south, and at 
length loses itself in fens. — Gira Mcimfiolis should be 
the capital of the kingdom traversed by this river, which 
terminates its course in a lake, like many other rivers 
in this covintty which have not power to reach the sea. 

Having tlnis surveyed the interior country, we return 
to examine what remains of the coast; the contour of 
which will conduct us to the most remote boundary of 
the ancient geography towards the south. The land ad- 
jacent to the Arabic Gulf was called Troglodytice^ be- 
cause the inhabitants of it dwelt in caverns when Ptole- 
my Philadelphus subjected them. This coast was named 
Habesh, or as we call it, Abyssinia. — The position of 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 307 



SECT. II. .ETHIOPIA. 



Berenice^ to which a road from Coptos conducted, as we 
have seen in describing Upper iEgypt, was on a gulf, 
whose foul bottom, to use the expression of seamen, 
caused il to be called Sinus Immundus. in an Arabian 
geographer, its n une is Giun-al-Mahec, or the Gulf of 
the Kin.i;. At its nM;uth is an isle, which from a precious 
stone, was named "fcfiazos; and which being inft.sted with 
serpents, was also named Ofihiodes^ or the Snaky. It is 
now found under the name of Zemorgetes — A point 
well known to mariners by the name of Calmes, and fill- 
ed with tombs, determines the identity of the promon- 
tory of Alni-inium, a name formed of a Greek word de- 
noting that circumstance. — Not far from the coast, a 
mountain, having mines from which the Ptolemies drew 
large quantities of gold, occasioned Berenice to be dis- 
tinguished by the surname of Panc/irysos, which in 
Greek would express "all gold." The name of this 
mountain, in the Arabian geographers who speak of its 
riches, is Alaki. or Oilaki. — They also indicate a neigh- 
bouring port, which under the dynasty of the Ptolemies, 
was called T/ieon S6tei% or S6ter6n; that is, the Preserv- 
ing Deities, or Saviours. To this port also belonged the 
name of Suc/ie, which might have been the primitive de- 
nomination bestowed on it by the natives of the country 
who are called Suchiim in the Scriptures; and from which 
is formed the name of Suakem, at present distinguish- 
ing it. In its basin, of no great extent, a small isle con- 
tains a populous and very commercial city, where re- 
sides a Turkish Pacha. — Ptolemais^ which the chase of 
elephants had occasioned to be surnamed Efiitheras, or 
Ferarum, was situated on a point of land that had been 
insulated by art, and which is now found in the name of 



308 AFRICA. 



ETHIOPIA. SECT. II. 



Ras-Ahehaz. The learned have mistaken Matzna, of 
which we shall presently spcdk, for this Ptolemais. A 
remarkable circumstance concerninii; its gulf, is, the 
mention that is made of a derivation from the river jis- 
taboras into it. — Adulis is described m antiquity as a 
place the m.ost frequented on this coast; and from a 
proximity of parallel to tlidt of the royal city of Aux- 
umitfcs, we see that the latitude given to it by Ptolemy 
is much too low. I'he place of this name was at some 
distance from the bouom of a spacious inlet, the shore 
of which is najiicd Arkiko, having on the ris^ht the lit- 
tle isle of Matzua. Adulis was distinguished by a mag- 
nificent Greek inscription v\ hich the third of the Ptole- 
mies, or Euergetes, placed on a throne of marble, to 
perpetuate the n.emory of a successful expedition in 
these countries. — Among many provinces, tiie conquest 
whereof is thus recorded, we find that of Semen, encom- 
passed by the high mountains which cover the coast; and 
this name of Senien still leraains. — Opposite the above 
inlet, is the greatest island in the Arabic Gnlf; and which, 
named heretofore Orine, or the mountainous, is now call- 
ed Dahlak. — A port more remote, as well as a city call- 
ed Sabx, is recognised in the name of Assab, which may 
have taken this form by prefixing the Ari.bic article, as 
in the name of Aasabinus. which the Iroglodijtes give 
to their Jupiter. — The last place on the gulf was a Be- 
renice, distinguished from others by the surname Efndi- 
res, as adjacent to a passage straightened like a throat, 
whereby this gulf communicates with the Erythrean sea. 
~~AliOUt this height is the country called Cinnamovfera. 
The cinnamon, whose name is now applied to an aro- 
matic laurel of India, without a certainty of its being thr; 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 309 

SECT. II. jETHIOPIA. 

same plant, is a shrub, the branches of which bear a bark 
that among the ancients was highly esteemed, and of 
great value. The T'ro^/orfy^es, crossing the gulf on rafts, 
carried to Ocelis in Arabia, the harvest which they made 
of cinnamon. They also traded with it to another port 
named Mosylon^ beyond the strait. 

What remains to be reviewed is on the authorities of 
Ptolemy, and of the author of a description of the shores 
of the Eryihrean Sea, without the contribution of any 
other document of antiquity. — A gulf named Avalites 
succeeds to the Arabic gulf; and its port which we now 
call Ze la, corresponds with the Emfiorium of the Ava- 
lites^ with whom a Nubian nation was associated — Af- 
ter many other ports, among which the entrance of a ri- 
ver named Soul appears to indicate Masylon^ comes the 
great promontory called Aromata by Ptolemy, or Aro' 
matum in the genitive plural, the most eastern land of 
the continent of Africa, and of which modern nanse is 
Guardafui. — A promontory to the south of thftt, and 
forming a chersonese or peninsula, as we recos^nise in 
Cape Orfui, is remarkable by the name of Zingis in 
Ptolemy. For we there recognise the name of Zendge, 
that the Arabs have extended as far as Sesareh, which 
is Sofala withal: a circumstance which carries the de- 
nomination of Zendge farther back than the use of this 
name that in modern geography is expressed Zangue- 
bar. — The land which stretches along this p trt of the 
sea was called Bardaria, or otherwise Azania^ which 
name it stiil preserves in the form of Ajan. — A point 
changing the direction of the coast, and which the Por- 
tuguese name das Baxas, or Shoals, represents the pro- 
Dd 2 



310 AFRICA. CHAP. HI. 

iETHlOPIA. SECT. II. 

.ir.ontory called JVoti Corvu, or the Southern Horn. — The 
Magnum Litus, or the Great Shore, maybe represented 
by Magadaxo; and some other ancient place on this coast, 
by Brava. — The sea causing the retrocession of the 
coast of Africa in this part, forms what was called Bar- 
fyaricus Sinus. — The last city to be reported on this coast 
is Rafita^ with the qualification oi metropolis. It owed its 
name to the circumstance of small vessels navigating 
the coast whose planks were connected with sutures: 
this term having the same signification in the Arabic lan- 
guage as in the Greek. Ptolemy, who in his Prolego- 
inena on a particular occasion examines the distance be- 
tween the promontory of Aromata and Rapta, fixes tiie 
difference of latitude at thirteen degrees; and from the 
height that we give to Cape Guardifui, Rapta must take 
its position, at farthest, in the second degree of south- 
ern latitude. It was on a river which was also called Raji- 
tus. Now, atthis height precisely* we know a river which, 
divided into several streams in its approach to the sea, in- 
closes many adjacent towns, as Pate, Si6, Ampaza, La- 
Kio, Sec. We owe, to the author of the Perijilus of the 
Erythrean Sea, a circumstance worthy of remark, which 
is, that all this country by a very ancient tenure, is a de- 
pendence on Arabia, and on one of its princes in parti- 
cular; and that of Muza, a maritime city of Arabia al- 
ready mentioned in its place, employed in this country 
collectors of the revenue. Hence we find that the estab- 
lishment of the Arabs on this coast was long previous to 
Islamism; the propagation of which, it might be ima- 
gined, brought them thither. From this circumstance is 
drawn an inference leading to the discovery of 0/i/nr, 
whither the fleets of Solomon resorted for gold, and 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 311 

SECT. II. ETHIOPIA, 

which has escaped those who, in their search for this 
country, have cast their eyes on the eastern shore of 
Africa, less remote. 

The name oi Jgizymba^ given by Ptolemy to a vast tract 
of interior land, denotes in the Abyssinian dialect of Ethi- 
opia, a southern country. It appears also to have some af- 
finity with that of the Zimbas, who, as they are known to 
be cannibals, may be the Ethiopians that we find in Ptol- 
emy.— The ultimate point of ancient geography south- 
ward was a promontory named Fraaitm, as if it had been 
called Cape Verd: and the difference of eight degrees of 
latitude, with regard to Rapta, as given by Ptolemy, at- 
tracts attention to a point which has taken from the Portu- 
guese navigators the name of Cabo Delgado, or Cape De- 
lie, in about the 1 0th degree of southern latitude — A point 
of latitude less remote, where he places the isle oi Me- 
nutJiias. indicates Zanzibar, the principal of three isles 
which are known on this coast. To apply, as in the maps 
hitherto published, this single point to the great island 
of Madagascar, is to pass the limits of Ptolemy's intel- 
ligence in geop;raphy, notwithstanding that the reigning 
vice of this great geographer was amplification of space. 
The most ancient notice that we have of Madagascar is 
due to Marco Polo, and does not ascend higher than the 
thirteenth century. In contluding the description of 
what antiquity knew of Asia towards the east, we have 
remarked that its remotest shore is led by Ptolemy to- 
wards the west to join that of Africa, which we have just 
been tracing; and the sea that bounds it in Ptolemy, call- 
ed Prasodis (or the Verdant,) appears to owe its name 
to that of the promontory above-mentioned. The opin- 



312 AFRICA. CHAP. Iir. 

LIBYA. SECT. III. 

ion that some authors of antiquity seem to have of the 
Aniichthones^ so called as having tlieir feet opposite to 
ours in the temperate zone of the northern hemisphere, 
might have given Ptolemy an idea of such a population 
in a corresponding zone. But the author of the Peri- 
plus of the Erythrean Sea appears inclined to believe 
that, beyond what he described of the African coast, this 
ocean penetrates into the west to join the Atlantic; ac- 
knowledging it, however to be only an hypothesis. And 
it may be inferred from Ptolemy that the relation of voy- 
ages round Africa by the south, had little credit in anti- 
quity. 



SECTION THIRD. 
LIBYA, 
BARCA. 

The name of Libya among the Greeks extended to 
all Africa: but, strictly speaking, it was coniprised in what 
succeeded to jEgypt towards the west, as far as a gulf 
of the Mediterranean, called the Great Syrtis. The Ptol- 
emies or some prince of their house, possessed this coun- 
try; and under ihe Eastern* Empire, Libya was annexed 
to the ^Egyptian government. VVe distinguish two pro- 
vinces in it, Marmurica and Cyrenica; the first confining 
on jEgypt, the second extending towards the Syrtis. The 
nation of Marmarida had given their name to the Mar- 
maric province:. and there is moreover mention of the 
.idyrmachidcCt as being contiguous to jEgypt. 

Following the coast, we see only places too obscure to 



CHAP. 111. AFRICA. 313 



SECT. III. 



merit notice, (ill we arrive at Paratoninm. This was a 
place regarded by the Ptolemies as a head advanced to 
cover their frontier: and al-Baretoun, as the same name is 
now pronoimced, is held by the sultan of the Turks as 
a dependency of his clominion in iEgyj)!. — ^/lis, which 
immediately succeeds, was an iE;,;'. pii.n Burgh, as ap- 
pears by the worship that wtis the r established: and all 
this part composed, ticc.ording to I'ujlensy, o nomeov dis- 
trict called Libycus, — The inland position called Mare- 
oils can be no other than that indicated in the modern 
geography by the name of Si-vvah — rimmoji or Havimon^ 
the Jupiter of ^gypt, and represented with ti)e head of 
a ram, as at Thebes, had his teiTipIe in a canton more 
remote, environed by the sands of Libya. This place is 
described by the writers of antiquity as comprising dif- 
ferent quarters in a triple inclosure; and the Ammo- 
nians having been governed by kings, according to He- 
rodotus had their dwelling in one of these quarters. 
What we find in modem geography under the name of 
Santrieh, must represent it, as the nature of the country 
admits no other object to emb. rrass the choice. 

We must now return to the shore of the Mediterra- 
nean. The place named Catabathmus Magnus, or the 
Great Descent, now in the language c)f the Arabs Aka- 
bet-ossolom, is remarkable in some ancient authors for 
making the separation between Asia and Africa. This 
place is also taken for a boundary of Marmarica, ascrib- 
ing to Cyrenica what immediately succeeds according 
to the extent which the princes who reigned at Cyrene 
might have given to their dominion. Five principal ci- 
ties distinguished the Cyrenaic province by the name of 
P:e?2^£?/2o/zs.— Conformable to the method of Ptolemy, 



314 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

LIBYA. SECT. III. 

Darnis is ihc first city to be cited in ^ yrenaica; and Derne 
is still its name. — -Luccdsemoniiins coming fiou) Thera, 
an island in the iEtj;-ean, founded Cyrene, which retains 
little else than ruins with the name of Cnrin. The last 
of the Ptolemies who reigned there; surnauied Apion, 
bequeathed his kinj^dom to the Romans, who formed a 
single province of this acquisition, and the island of 
Crete. The city was situated within sight of the sea, 
having Afwllonia for its port; and as this port is now 
named Marza-Suea, or Sosush. it is probai)le 'that 
this is the city mentioned by the name of Sozusa, dur- 
ing the Lower Empire. — The most advanced point 
of Libya, Pinjcus Promontorium^ is now called Ras-al- 
Sem, and among mariners Cape Rasat. — Ptolemais, 
which is sometimes confounded with Barce^ retains ne- 
vertheless its particular position, at a distance from the 
sea, in the altered name of Tolometa; and the nanie of 
Barca is also well known.— 7>Mr/«>fi, which unter the 
^Egyptian princes had the name of Aminoe^ is found in 

its prirnilive denomination on the same shore. idridnt^ 

which follows, corresponds with the position of lien-gazi, 
Berenice is known by the name of Bernic: but it appears 
by a particular testimony that Ben-gazi and Bernic are 
only different names for the same place. The same city 
was denominated Hesfieris., and ancient fables place 
there the garden of the Hesperides. — The shore of the 
Great Synis terminates this country. In the bosom of 
the desert continent, some portions of land, such as the 
Ammon and Oases of ^Egypt, having wells of water, and 
groves of palms and date-trees, are not without habita- 
tions. Augiloy which is one of these, retains the same 
name.— From among many obscure nations in Libya 



J 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 



SECT. IV. AFRICA PROPI 



must be excepted the JVasajnones, who adjacent to the 
extremity of the Great Syrtis, were much decried for 
the plunder which they practised upon the vessels that 
were wrecked on their coast. Tliey alnnost destroyed the 
nation of Psyllii, whom the fame of possessing power 
over serpents, and the art of curing their bite in others 
by sucking the wound, distinguish in antiquity.* 



SECTION FOURTH. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, NUMIDIA, et MAURETANIA, 

TRIPOLIS, FEZZAN, TUNIS, ALGIERS AND FEZ. 

In this section we embrace the several countries which 
from the limits gven to Libya on the Great Syrcis, are 
extended to the western ocean. — Among the ancients 
the name of Syrtis was common to two gulfs on the 
coast of Africa, distinguished into Major and Alinor; 
which from the rocks and quicksands, and a remarkable 
inequality in the motion of the waters, were deemed of 
perilous nasigation. Mariners, corrupting the name, 
have called the Great Syrtis the Gulf of Sidra. 

Africa Propria. It was the case with Africa as 
with Europe and Asia, to have an individual canton dis- 
tinguished by the name of the continent. The part of 
Africa thus distinguished was tiiat which was nearest to 
Italy, and the island of Sicily. The ancient people of 
this country were the N'umides. and as they lived with- 



• M. Savary confirms the truth of this eurious cu'cumstance 
in his Letters on -flEgj'pt. See Letter IV. 



316 AFttICA- CHAP. III. 

AFRICA. PROPRIA., &C. SECT. IV. 

out fixed dwellings, the circumstance might have given 
occasion to an aj-ibiguity in this name, and that of J^o- 
macles, both terms being of Greek origin. A land abun- 
dantly fertile by natuie, was K f t without culture; for in 
the words of Strabo, the inhabitants abandoned their 
fields to savage beasts, to exhaust themselves by preda- 
tory warfare. The dominion which the Carthagenians 
established in this country, must have operated a change 
in the national character of the natives; and the author 
above cited reports of Massinissa, whose attachment to 
the Romans in the second Punic War had rendered him 
powrerful, that he contributed much to the civilization of 
the Numidian nation. But jVianidia being distinguished 
from Africa Projier, we now proceed to the detail of the 
latter. 

According to Ptolemy, at the bottom of the Great; 
Syrtis, the Fhilxiioruin Arte, or Philenian Altars (which 
were monuments consecrated to the memory of two 
Carthagenian brothers of the name of Philsenus; who 
were there exposed to death, to extend thither the de- 
pendencies of their country) were regarded as the point 
of separation between Cyrene and Africa Propria on the 
west. But M. D'Anville restrains the eastern limits of 
Africa Profiria to the l)ottom of the Smaller Syrtis, from 
which it presents a coast, first to the east, and then to 
the north, till it confines upon JVumidia on the west. 
With this discrimination, tiie scrupulous reader will he 
in no danger of makinii, an unqualified extension of this] 
canton upon the confines of Libya, if our notices com- 
mence from the borders of Cyrene on the Great Syrtis, 
—Under tlie Ptolemies, the limits of the Cyicnaic pro- 
vince were protracted to si tower named Lu/i/irantci,; and 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 317 

SECT. IV. AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. 

in this interval Macomades Syriis is a place in ruins called 
Sort. — Strabo speaks of a great Lake disemboguing in- 
to the Syrtis; and this lake which is salt, is at its en- 
trance named Succa. — A promontory named heretofore 
CefihaU^ or the Heads, and now Canan, or Cape Mez- 
zata, terminates the Syrtis. — Farther on, the Ci?iijfihs has 
its source under a hill distant from the sea but 200 sta- 
dia, and named by Herodotus Clmritum, or the Graces; 
and this little river, we are informed, is called in the 
country, Wadi-guaham. — We must recede to some dis- 
tance from the coast, to speak of a city which has made 
some noise in the world, by the rumour of its being pe- 
trified. This error has arisen from some shepherds of 
the country, who having seen statues and bas-reliefs in 
marble, reported them to be men, animals, and fruits, of 
stone. This place being called Gherze, is made known 
by the name of Gerisa in Ptolemy. — We distinguish in 
this district, a province of the Western Empire, under 
the name of Tri/iolis, which the circumstance of three 
principal cities had given to the country. Le/j(is, the 
first and most considerable of these, with the surname of 
Magna, hv distinction fiom another beyond the limits of 
the Tripolitane, owed its foundation to the Phoenicians; 
and its ruins are known by the name of Lebida. Oe«, 
the second of these cities, has taken the name of Tri- 
poli, on absorbing the population of the other two. Sa- 
drain, the third, is mentioned by an Arabian geographer 
•who describes this coast, as a tower culled Sabart. This 
is the Tripoli Vecchio of the Mediterranean navigators. 
— It may be said that Pisida, and its port, which are not 
far distant, have formed by alteration the modern name 
Ee 



318 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. SECT. IV. 

of Fissato. — Imniedialely on this side of the Little byitis, 
Meniiix, otherwise called Lotofihagitis^ and afterwards 
Girba, is a little isle, well known under the name of 
Zerbi, which is only separated from the continent by a 
channel sufficiently narrow to be covered by a bridge. 
Another ciiy, bearing the same name of Meninx, is pro- 
bably that now called Zadaica. The tree called Lolus, 
famous for the meat and drink afforded by a species of 
mast which it produced, occasioned not only the inhabi- 
tants of this isle, but likewise several other people, 
spread between the two Syrtes, to be called Lotofihagi. 
It is expedient now to quit the coast, and take notice 
of what is worthy of remark in a country lying between 
this maritime region and one more interior. — Phazaiiia 
is this country ; and it preserves its name in Fezzan, 
through which is a route conducting from Tripoli into 
Nigritia. — Cijdamus is Ghedenies, where are still rc- 
rnains of antiquity ; and the remaining traces of ancient 
■ways indicate the communication that this city had with 
the places on the coast. The Roman arms, under Au- 
gustus, penetrated through this country to that of the 
Garamantes. — Among many names of cities which ap- 
peared in the triumph of the younger Balbus, that of 
Tabidimn, called by Ptolemy Thahudis^ is found in Tibe- 
dou, on the route just mentioned. — There is, in thisl 
canton, the dry bed of a torrent, called Wad-el Mezze*] 
ran, or Mezjerad, by equivocal pronunciation ; and this 
torrent, which sinks in the sand after a short couise, is 
teported by the name of Bagradas^ in Ptolemy, but con* 
founded with a river of the same name, that has its is- 
sue in Africa Proper, under the modern denomination 
of Mejerda.— The great nation of Garamantes owed its 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 319 

SECT. IV. AFRICA FUOPRIA, &.C. 

name to the city of Garama, some distance from the 
sea, where Gherma is yet found in the Arabian t^eot^ra- 
phy. — The names of Mederam and 'lasavci, which this 
geography gives to places in the s nie canton, agree 
uith the positions of Bediru77i and Sabe^ in Ptolemy.— 
We observe also a riier in the san;e country named 
Ciny/i/iushy Ptolemy, but with a sin-iiar mistake to that 
just remarked. For tliis river is confounded with the 
Ciny/i/is; though, hs -ot haAing a continuous course to 
the sea, it caniio! oe tiie same. — To return to the ma- 
ritinie country, the little Syrtis is now called the Gulf of 
Gahes, from the ancient city of Tacafie situated at its 

head, and preserving its name in this altered form 

That of el-Hamma a place in its environs, and which is 
an appellative in iJie language of the country for medi- 
cinal waters, indicates the ^qu£ Taca/iina. 

We now proceed to review what is unequivocally Jf- 
rica Propria. It is enveloped by the sea on two sides: 
on the east, from the bottom oi the smaller Syrtis to the 
Hermaum promontory, or that of Mercury, now Cape 
Bon; and, on the north, from this promontory to the 
limits oijyumidia as has been said. Its name is recognised 
in that of Frikia which has remained to a principal can- 
ton of this country, that is traversed by tlie Bagradas in 
its course to the sea ; while the name of the river is al- 
so preserved in the form of Megerda. It may be added, 
that a line of division between the provinces of Africa 
and JSTuinidia appears given by that which separates the 
kingdoms of Tunis and Algier — The country adjacent 
to the Syrtis was distinguished by the name of Eyzaci- 
nm. It was also named Em/ioriaj and its great fertility 
in corn might have caused it to be regarded as a raaga- 



320 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, ScC. SECT. IV. 

zine of provisions, which was resorted to by sea. There 
was a city of the same name with that of the country; 
and the Arabian geography makes known its position 
under the name of Beghni. — Among the maritime ci- 
ties, the first that presents itself in the order we have 
adopted, is Macomedes, distinguished by the surname of 
Minores from another of the same name, which we have 
already seen at the bottom of the great Syrtis ; this be- 
ing what is now called el-Mahres. — The town of Thence 
preserves the name Taiueh; and bkafes, which is now 
the most frequented port on this coasu appears to have 
replaced Tafilirura. This name, which seems derived 
from the Greek term Ta/ihros, signifying a trench, may 
relate to that which the second Scipio caused to be 
drawn to T/iena, according to Pliny, to fix the limits of 
the country conceded to the kings of Numidia. — At no 
great distance from the shore, the little isle of Cercinay 
separated from a smaller isle by a narrow canal, retains 
its name in the form of Kerkeni. — Though there be no 
mention of Cafiutuada till the reign of Justinian, we may 
say that the point called Capoudia indicates it. — At some 
distance from the sea, a place named el-Jem, in which, 
among many remains of antiquity there is seen an am- 
phitheatre, answers to the position of Tysdrus. — A pen- 
insula on which a prince, who is said to have descended 
from Mohammed by Fatima, constructed in the tenth 
century a fortress under the name of Mahdia, and which 
the Franks name Africa, appears to have been the site 
of the Turris Hannibalis, whence that famous Cartha- 
genian departed when he retired to Asia. — In this part 
of Africa, conquered by the Arabs in the first age of 
Islamism, the posiiionof Kairwan distant from the sea, 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 321 

SECT. IV. AFRICA PROPRIA, SlC. 

and which Ocba, who made this conquest, chose for the 
residence of the governors of the country, under the au- 
thority of the Khiilifs, is taken by conjecture for the Fi- 
cus ./^u^-Msi/.— -Continuing to follow the coast, we discern 
the name of Tajisus, which a victory obtained by Caesar 
has rendered memorable, in that of a place called Dem- 
sas. — By a similar indication, the position of Lemta 
shows that oi Le/ids, which, notwithstanding the qualifi-, 
cation of Minor, in contradistinction to that in the Tri- 
politane, was far from being inconsiderable. — Hadrume' 
turn, whose name is also written without the aspiration, 
appears in the first rank among the cities of Byzacium. 
Its present condition is unknown; but a neighbouring 
place, mentioned in a subsequent age under the name 
of Cabar Susis, is existent in Susa: and Horrea Ccelia is 
well known in the vulgar denomination of Erklia. — 
From this position the maritime country takes the name 
of Zeugitana, without our knowing whether under this 
name it extended as far inland as to correspond with the 
limits of the department that was afterwards named PrO' 
co7isularis. — In this passage to another province, where^ 
the strand of the continent appears diiven in by the sea, 
there is remarked at some distance from the shore a 
place which, under the name of Grasse, now Jerads, 
■was a palace furnished with delicious gardens in the 
time of the Vandalic kings. We know that, compelled, 
to cede entire Spain to the Visigoths, the Vandals in- 
vaded Africa, which they possessed for near a century 
immediately ])receding the reign of Justinian, who re- 
conquered it. — On the coast, H^mmaniet indicates in 
this name the Jqua Calida of this canton. — There is 
E e 2 



322 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. SECT. IV. 

known a J\reQfiolis in Nabel; also a Curubis in Gurbes, 
and Clufiea in Akalibia; the position of which is follow- 
ed immediately by the Hermaum Promontorium, which 
we had occasion to cite before. — At the bottom of the 
gulf which this promontory bounds on one side, a creek, 
of which the narrow entrance is called the Goulette, pe- 
netrates as far as Tunetum^ Tunis which, since the 
entire ruin of Carthage, has become the capital city. — 
A point which bends in the figure of a crescent moon, 
called Cape Carthage, is that of a peninsula which made 
the site of the famous city of this name. But it is not 
now, as heretofore, a land almost insulated: for the sea, 
retiied from its ancient shore has left uncovered an ex- 
tensive beach between the point just mentioned and that 
named Porto Ferino, near a promontory which termi- 
nates the opposite side of the gulf. An isthmus of 
twenty-five stadia, or three miles in breadth, which join- 
ed the peninsula to the main, is no longer to be distin- 
guished from it; and what is still called el Marza, or the 
Port, is at a considerable distance from the sea. The 
circuit of three hundred and sixty stadia given to this 
rieninsula, must be of the shortest measure, to be com- 
nensurate with the twenty-four miles assigned by an- 
other authority to the vast inclosure comprehending the 
city with its ports. It had a citadel, named Byrsa, on 
an eminence; and an interior port, excavated by human 
labour, as its name of C6/h6n denoted. Founded by the 
Tyriai s, the name Carthada, which they gave it, signi- 
fies in the Phoenician language the new city. And this 
Qamr in the Greek writers is not, as in the Latins, Car' 
ihago^ bin Carchedon. Destroyed by the younger Scipio 
one hundred and forty-six years before the Christian 



CHAP. m. AFRICA. 323 

SECT. IV. AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. 

aera, its re-establishment, projected by Caesar, was exe- 
cuted by Augustus; and Strabo, writing under Tiberius, 
speaks of Carthage as one of the most flourishing cities 
of Africa. Its second destruction by the Arabs, under 
the khalifat of Abdal-Malec was towards the end of the 
seventh century. Among its ruins are discovered cis- 
terns; and in the country are the remains of an aque- 
duct proceeding from a place named Zowan, considera- 
bly distant towards the south. — Inclining towards Utica 
we meet the Bagradasy whose mouth was formerly near- 
er to Carthage than it is at present. For it had chang- 
ed its course to pass under the position of ancient Utica, 
which was anciently separated from it by the site of a 
camp, which the advantage of situation had recommend- 
ed to the choice of the first Scipio, and which, from the 
family of this great captain, is cited in more than one 
passage of history by the designation of Castra Cornelia, 
-—Utica, whose name in the Greek writers is read Ithy' 
ca, a Tyrian colony as well as Carthage, and even of prior 
foundation, was the principal city of this country in the 
time which elapsed between the destruction of Carthage 
and its re-establishment. There is mention of a place 
which has supplanted it, under the name of Satcor, in 
the history of the conquest of the country by the Arabs. 
The Mesjerda, after traversing a small pool which here- 
tofore separated the camp of Scipio from Utica, con- 
tinues its course to Porto-Ferino, which is covered by a 
point named formerly Jpollinis Promontoriiim, now Ras 
Zebid.— .On the coast which then looks to the north, 
HififiQ Zarytas was thus surnamed by distinction from 
Hififio Reg-ius, by reason of its situation among artificial 
canals, which afforded the sea entrance to a navigable 



324 AFRICA. CII\P. IIT. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. SECT. IV. 

lagune that was adjacent. The alteration of its name 
into that of Ben-zei't, as we find in the Arabian geogra- 
phy, preserves some affinity with its ancient denomina- 
tion ; which the practice of seamen in calling it Biserte, 
has totally extinguished. — The last place to be mention- 
ed on this coast is Tabraca, of which the little isle of 
Tabarca preserves the name. — We know of no other 
river that may be the Rubricatus of Ptolemy, than that 
which falls into the sea opposite this isle. It is also the 
Tusca, which according to Pliny bounds Africa on the 
side of Numidia, and is now the Wad-el-Berber. As- 
cending it to some distance, we recognise in the name 
of Vegja, a considerable city which by Sallust is named 
Vacca.) and by others Vaga. 

The interior country remains now to be inspected. — 
Ascending by the Bagradas, we find Tuburbo under the 
same name; and Tucuborum^ in Tucaber — Another 
Tuburbo., distinguished by the surname of Majus, whose 
position is south of Tunis, and widely distant from the 
preceding, it apitears also in the form of Tubernok.— - 
In the name of Wad-el-Bul, which a river received by 
the Bagradas bears, that of Bulla., surnamed Regia., is 
evident. — It is only by being near Tugaste^ a Numidian 
city, and the native place of St. Augustine, that the posi- 
tion of Madaurus, the city of Apuleius, is judged. — That 
which is now called Urbs, and otherwise Kef, where arc 
remains of antiquity, is Sicca Venera; although an Eng- 
lish traveller. Dr. Shaw, to whose information we owe 
much topographical intelligence of this country, makes 
a distinction between these names, as appropriate to two 
several positions. — We find the name of Tucca^ with 
ancient vestiges, in a place named Tugga; but which 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 325 

SECT. IV. AFRICA PROPRIA, &c'. 

cannot be the same with Tucca Tcrebinthina of the Ro- 
man Itinerary. — It must here be said, that the positions 
given by Ptolemy, appear in such disorder, that we have 
no other means of assigning suitable places to them than 
by following the traces of Roman ways, which abound 
more in this part of Africa than in any other country of 
the ancient Itineraries. These means are nevertheless. 
not without difficulty. — Zama. meiiK-Mable for the victory 
ofScipioover Hannibal, is given as imniedi.te to another 
place on one of these ways; though there is reason, 
from other circumstances, to form a doubt of its trye 
position. — One is astonished to find that of Muati, which 
by a similar problem has a place assigned to it in the 
centre of Africa, appear in the Ecclesiastical Notices as 
an Episcopal see of Numidia, rather than of the procon- 
sular province.— -Sr^/i^rw/a, a considerable city, to judge 
of it by the concourse of many ways, is found in Sbaitla. 
— SepJimunicia is mentioned as being at the foot of a 
great mountain named -Burgaon, which appears to be a 
continuation of Usalef.iis, retaining the name of Uselet. 
— -What remains of the province of Africa is that part of 
Byzacium^ which stretches towards the south. To ar- 
rive at it we must traverse arid and desert places, as his- 
tory testifies in speaking of the forced march effected 
by Marius lo surprise Ca/isa, a great city, which, from 
its difficulty of access, was judged by Jugurtha a proper 
deposit for reserved treasure. The position of this city 
is known, and its name is pronounced Cafsa. — Thnle is 
likewise spoken of with circumstances which, in relation 
to the preceding, appear to suit the position of Telefi(e, 
in the Roman Itinerary. — We are indebted to the Eng- 
lish traveller for the recognisance of a long and narrow 



326 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. SECT. IV. 

lake, divided in two by a ford, and which represents, un- 
der the African names of Faroun and el-Loiideah, the 
Paludes called Tnlonis aud Libya in antiquity. The first 
of these communicated the epithet of Tritonia, to Mi- 
nerva; who, ii is pretended, first revealed herself in 
these places. What are found on this mere, under the 
names of Toser and Neftu, indicate the positions of 
Tisicruf) rind A''i-/2te.~.\ military po~st on this frontier, 
called Turris Ta7nul/e?n, is discovered in the ntmre of 
Tamelem; and the country is that now called Beledul* 
G^rid. or the Re'^ion of Grasshoppers. 

NuMiDiA. This name extended primitively to all 
the country comprised between Africa Proper, and the 
more ancient boundary of Mauretania, which was a river 
named Molochath or Malva, now Mulvia, whose mouth 
is opposite Cape Gata, on the southern shore of Spain; 
and this space is now occupied by the kingdom of Al- 
gier. — Two people participated this extensive country: 
the MassTjli, on the side of Africa; and the Mascesylt, 
towards Mauretania: in a promontory far advanced in 
the sea, heretofore named Tretum, now Sebdaruz, or 
the Seven Capes, by the people of the country, and by 
mariners Bergaronie, made the term of separation be- 
tween them. They obeyed two princes celebrated in 
history; the first being subjects of Masinissa, the second 
of Sypli .X. The attachment of Masinissa to the Ro- 
mans, required on their part not only a re-establishment 
in tiie kingdom of which he had been despoiled by Sy- 
phax, but also that he should be guaranteed in possession 
of that of his enemy, by an event that united all Numi- 
dia under one prince. This kingdom, in the same state 
under Juguriha, and the same also under Juba, was van- 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 327 

SECT. IV. AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. 

quished by Csesar, who reduced Numidia to a province. 
But Augustus having gratified Juba the son of Juba, 
with a part of the kingdom of his father, this province 
of Numidia suffered abscission of that part which had 
taken the name of Mauretania; and appeared finally 
bounded by the river Ampsagas, that falls into the sea on 
the side of the promontory of Tretum and v;hich is now 
named Wad-il-Kibir, or the Great River. 

The first place remarkable on the coast is Hif^fio Re- 
gius, the episcopal see of St. Augustin; and near its 
ancient site is known a town named Bona. — The 
mount Pafifiau, where Gelimer, the last king of the 
Vandals, who was vanquished by Belisarius, sought a 
retreat, and which is now named Edoug, rises in its en- 
virons. — At the bottom of the gulf that succeeds, and 
which, heretofore called Sinus J^umidicus^ is now the 
Gulf of Stora, Rusicade, a considerable city preserves a 
fragment of its name in that of Sgigada. — Cullu, under 
the promontory of Tretum, has not changed its name- 
Ascending by the Ampsagas about fifty miles, we find 
Cirta, the residence of the kings of Numidia; and which, 
from a partisan named Sitius, to whom Caesar was in- 
debted for great services in his African war, was called 
Silianorum Coloniu. But having been afterwards named 
Consiantina, under this name it still subsists, as the 
chief city of the interior country. A river which falls 
into the Wad-il-Kibir, nearly involves it; and the traces 
of many of the Roman ways which diverged from it, are 
still apparent in its environs. Milevis, which is not far 
distant from it, is recognised in Mila; and Signs, in Si- 
guenic— Inclining towards Hififio, Tipasa appears in 
Tifas; and a place named Hammam indicates the Aguie 



528 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. SECT. IV 

which Tibilis had in its vicinity. — The places Tagasie 
and Tebeste^ on the frontier of Africa, are found in Ta- 
jelt and Tebess. — Two other places distant from Con- 
stantina towards the south, called Lambese and Lamas- 
be, give evidently the positions o{ Lambasa and Lamas- 
ba: and Baga'i, on the flank of Gebel Auras, retains the 
same name. — The ylurasius Mo7is, though at first ap- 
pearing difficult of access, occupies a great space of 
even and cultivated lands. This frontier affords en- 
trance to a vast country distinguished by the name of 
Gatulia, which confines also on Mauretania.— A river 
named Zab, whick communicates its name to the coun- 
try that it traverses, is mentioned by the name of Zaba, 
in the times of the Lower Empire. The Savus, or Sa- 
bus, which Ptolemy places in the Mauretania Csesarien- 
sis, where such a river does not exist, should be refer- 
red to this, as the modern denomination sufficiently 
evinces. If Ptolemy conducts a river of this name to 
the sea, it should be remembered that he also continues 
the courses of a Bagradas and a Cynifis thither ; which 
totally perish in the interior country, as does the Zab 
■under discussion. — We shall conclude our report of 
Numidia with the notice of a principal city in this can- 
ton Zab, named Pescara; which evidently indicates that 
of Vesceritci, or Vescethtr, 

Mauretania. It is thus, and not MauritaJiia, that 
this name appeal s in most monuments of antiquity, whe- 
ther medals or lapidary inscriptions; and it may be ad- 
ded, that the national name is Maurasii, according to 
the Greek writers. The country over which Bocchus, 
who delivered Jugurtha to the Romans, reigned, was 
limited, as we have said in speaking of the primitive 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 329 

SECT. ^V. AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. 

State of Numidia, by the river Alolochath, whose name, 
being otherwise Mabva^ has given occasion to some mo- 
dern authors, misled by Ptolemy, to distinguish two riv- 
ers for one. We are not precisely informed what occa- 
sioned the amplification of ancient Mauretania: it is 
known, however, that it was Juba (by the favour of Au- 
gustus put in possession of the states of the two Mau- 
rish princes, Bogud and Bocchus) who constructed the 
city of C<£sarea, which gave the name of CasarieJisis to 
that part of Mauretania which was taken from Numidia. 
Now if it be supposed that Mauretania was a concession 
to the kingdom of Juba, prior to the aggrandisement 
made of his paternal domain, we shall find in these cir- 
cumstances what gave occasion to the extension of the 
name.— This kingdom was reduced into a province un- 
der Claudius, and divided into two: Caesariensis. or that 
territory which had belonged to Numidia; and Tingiia- 
na-, or the origiudl Mauretania, which extended to the 
ocean. 

To enter into a detail of maritime positions, in regu- 
lar order, we must take our departure from the mouth 
of the river Am/isagafi. Igilgilis preserves the name of 
Jigel, or Jijeli, which, in the pronunciation of seamen, 
is Gigeri, and which is commonly so pronounced in 
speaking of the capture of tliis place by the French, in 
1664. -The river Audus is that which the sea receives 
near Bujeiah — The transposition of some letters does 
not conceal from observation in the name of Tedles, the 
ancient one of Salda. — Let us add, by the way, that Tu- 
iusufiius, apart from the shore, corresponds with a place 
€i^\lc^ Burg, in the canton of Kuko, which is covered by 
F f 



330 AFRICA. 



AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. S9CT. IV. 

a great and precipitous mountain, named Ferrarious 
Monst now Jurjura. — Fartner on, a river, whose name 
is Ser, or Isser with the article, refers to the Serbetes-— 
The initial syllable common to the names Rusazus, Ru' 
si/iisir, Rusucurru, and many others, seems to denote, 
in the Punic language, a cape, or point of land, as Ras, 
in the Arabic. In this series of places there is no men- 
tion of Algier; this city being of later date than the 
time which makes the term of antiquity. Its name, pure- 
ly Arabic, is formed of al-Gazair, the denomination of 
a little isle which covers its port, and which is joined to 
the continent by a mole. In the name of RusU'Curru, 
the part which is peculiar and distinctive from many 
other names, is preserved in that of Hur, as indicated 
by an Arabian geographer. — Ruins at Sersel would ap- 
pear to be those of Cxsdrea; but, in the Roman Itinerary, 
this city is more remote towards Cartenna, well known 
in the modern form of Tenez. Icosium consequently had 
the place which Sersel now occupies; and a port, men- 
tioned by an Arabian geographer under the name of Va- 
cur, should be that of Casarea; which, before it was em- 
bellislied and elevated to the rank of capital under king 
Juba, was named lot. This city was extremely injured 
by the barbarian revolters, when the count Theodosius, 
father to the emperor of that name, was charged with 
the command in Africa. — It may be said, in general 
terms, that all this coast was filled with Roman colo- 
nies; the detail of which would contribute to dilate this ' 
"Work beyond the limits of an epitome. After Cartennuf i 
which succeeds Csesarea, is the mouth of the river C/ti* 
nalafihf the most considerable of this country^ and of 
which, the modern name of ShelUf is not without some 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 331 

SECT. IV. AFRICA. PROPRIA, &C. 

affinity with the precedent. — We shall cite Murusfaga, 
because we find it in the name of Mustuganim.— .'irse- 
naria might be applied to Arzefi, if, by the order of 
places, the Portus Magnus had not taken this position. 
— As to Portus JDivini, there is no doubt of its being 
Oran and the adjacent port of Marz-al-Kibir, whose 
name signifies the Great Port- — The Metagonium PrO' 
moniorium, which, according to Strabo, is opposite to 
New Carthage, agrees very exactly in this circumstance 
with the situation of a point of land which closes on the 
western side a deep gulf, whose name of Harsgone may 
be observed to correspond with the Greek deiiominytion 
of the promontory. If ih( same name be found in some 
other authors, it is not with the same evidence of its 
identity. — The last place in ancient Numidia, as in the 
Mauretania of Cassarea, is Siga^ at some distance from, 
the sea, and which was the residence of Syphax before 
the invasion of the kingdom of Masinissa had put hira 
in possession of Cirta. The place to which is given the 
remarkable namie of Ned-Roma, occupies its place, and 
preserves vestiges of antiquity.— At length we reach 
the bank of the Alolochath^ whose name is also read 
Mulucha; near which, an ancient fortress called Calaa, 
making the term of a Roman way, preserves a similar 
name in Calaat-el-Wad, which signifies the Castle of 
the River. 

But, before we enter upon Tingitana, we must take 
a cursory view of tlie interior part of the province of 
Caesarea. Siti/i, as the most distinguished city, was ex- 
alted to the dignity of metropolis, in a particular Maure- 
tania, formed in a later age; and iis district, adjacent to 
Numidia, was called Sitifensis. This city still exists with 



332 AFRICA. CHAP. III. 

AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. SECT. IV. 

the name of Sitef. — Traversing the mountains towards 
the south, a plain country contiguous to the Zab, is ob- 
served to contain a salt fen, called el-Shot, which is the 
Salinx JVubonenses. Tubuna is recognised in Tubnah; 
and Desena in Deusen, distant from the Zab. A castle, 
named Auzea in Tacitus and in the Roman Itinerary, 
may be assigned to the position of a fortress called Burg; 
a term which seems to be used as appellative for such 

places in Barbary, and other countries of the Levant 

The name of Castrum Audiense^ in the Notice of the 
Empire, appears to conduct towards the beginning of 
the course of the Audus. — Mallinna keeps the name of 
Meliana. — Succubar was seated on the acclivity' of a 
mountain, whose modern name is Zuchar. — Fundus 
Mazucanus is found in Mazona: and it appears fiom the 
account of an historian, that the Count Theodosius, de- 
parting from Tigavas in this canton, crossed the An- 
corarius Mons to attack the Alazicea, Thus this moun- 
tain answers to that named Waneseris; and the position 
given under the name of Midroe, appears to be the same 
with that of Medianum Casiellum, which was the ulti- 
mate point of a Roman expedition in this country.— 
The nation we have just named was a powerful one; and 
•we. find the Mazices in Libya, and in the environs of the 
Oases. — Mina preserves its name purely; and the Gad- 
urn Castra is recognised in Tagadeont.— The position of 
Regia^ denoting a royal dwelling, is found by the direc- 
tion of a Roman way to be Tlemsen, where the Aiab 
l)rinces of the house of Beni-Merin also established 
their residence. — Through the weakness of the Numi- 
<lian nation of Masaesylians, this country was conquered 
by the Gelulians, who peopled all the border as far as the 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 333 

SECT. IV. AFRICA PROPRIA, &t. 

Syrtes. One must read Procopius's War of the Vandals, 
to have an idea of the rude and savage life of the Getu- 
lians. These are the people properly called Bereberes, 
who have given the name to Barbary; preserving them- 
selves distinct from the Arabs whom the progress of 
Islamism, and the dominion of the khalifs, have spread 
over these western countries of Africa. 

We pass now to Tingitana. What had been Maureta- 
nia Proper was thus called from the name of its princi- 
pal city, in the same manner that we have seen the other 
Mauretania distinguished. It occupied the space between 
the river Aloloc/iath and the Western Ocean. At the 
time of the division of the Roman empire into east and 
west, Tingitana is seen arranged among the provinces 
of Spain; and, exclusively of the other provinces of Af- 
rica, comprised in the Dicecesis of haly, under the de- 
signation of Hisfiaiiia Transfretana^ or Spain beyond the 
Strait; an union that seems to have been induced by 
proximity. The expulsion of the Vandals from Spain, 
put the Goths also in possession of the province of Tin- 
gitana; the commandant of which, under the last king 
of the Visigoths, in vengeance of a private injury, intro- 
duced the Maures into that kingdom about the begin- 
ning of ti-.e eighth century. The western situation of 
this extremity of Africa, procured it from the Arabs the 
name of Garb, from an appellative in their language. 
The province of Tingitana corresponds nearly with the 
kingdom of Fez. — Upon entering into particulars, we 
perceive scarcely any other than maritime positions to 
recount. Eusadir is the first that presents itself, fol- 
lowed by a promontory of the same name; as the cape 
F f 3 



AFRICA. CFIAP. III. 



AFEICA PROPRIA, &.C. 



called Tres-forcas immediately succeeds Melilla.-— fa- 
rietina may be represented by Velez de Gomera.— TV- 
via Longa., which by this name denotes a narrow tongue 
of land, is Targa. — The position oi lagat/i, in Ptolemy, 
is the same with Tetewen, or, as it is more commonly 
pronounced, Tetuan. — It is agreed that the mount jiby' 
ta, the column of Hercules that is opposite to Calfie in 
Europe, answers to an elevated point, forming a penin- 
sula, of which a place named Ceuta closes the isthmus. 
There is mention of this place under the name of Sefi' 
turn, or Sefita; but not before the sixth century, and the 
reign of Justinian. — Mounts called Sefitem Fratresy spo- 
ken of much earlier by several authors, ought to be dis- 
tinguished from those, since they precede Abyla both in 
Ptolemy and in the Antonine Itinerary, which follow a 
contrary order to that observed here. Thus, wha^ the 
Arabs have called Gebel Mousa, must be the Seven 
Brothers — The name of Tingis subsists in that of Tin-\. 
ja; which, altered by usage, is Tangier. But the posi- 
tion of the ancient city was on the right, or opposite 
side of the creek to the modern, and also more inland — 
Beyond this is the point which separates the strait from 
the shore of the Western Ocean; and the name of Spar- 
tel, which mariners give it, with the Italian pronuncia- 
tion, seems owing to the partition which it makes of the 
two seas. The name oi Amfielusia, which it bore among 
the Greeks as being abundant in vines, has the same 
sip-nification wiih that of Cotes, in the Punic or Phoeni- 
cian language; and this canton of Africa is still noted 
for the beauty and flavour of the grapes that it produces. 
— On the shore of the ocean, Zilis, having assumed the 
Arabic article to its name, is now Azzilia. — Lixus, cr 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 335. 

SECT. IV, AFRICA PROPRIA, &C. 

Linx, which tradition has made the dwelling of Antaeus 
vanquished by Hercules, is Arais, but by corruption 
called Larache; and the river which bore the name of. 
Lixua preserves it in the form of Lucos. — Although in 
Ptolemy the position of .Sa«a«a appears inland, yet there 
is superior evidence of its being near the sea, on the pas- 
sage of a Roman way, given in the Itinerary from Sala 
to Tingis; and what the seamen call Old Mamorc may 
represent it. — Subu^ the greatest river of the country, 
discharged itself there; but it appears to have changed 
its mouth to Mahmora, preserving its name in the form 
ofSubu. — Sala^ heretofore at some distance from the 
sea, but now on its margin, is separated into three divi- 
sions or quarters; of which the two that are nearest to 
the sea are divided from each other by a river of the 
same name, and distinguished together by the designa- 
tion of New Salee; while the third, more interior, is 
called Rabat, or the City, emphatically. This is the far- 
thest Roman city on this coast; and an ulterior position, 
under the name oi Exfiloratio ad Mercwium, explicitly 
denotes an advanced post to guard the frontier, and con- 
secrated to the divinity presiding over highways and 
passes. — In the inland country, departing from the Lix- 
ijs, is found the position of Ba6ba, surnamed Julia cam,' 
fiestris, which .ve are inclined to apply to a place from 
its groves of orange trees called Naranja. — Volubilis may, 
with more confidence, be assigned to a place named 
Gualili, which preserves fragments of antiquity. — Me- 
kenez, the ordinary residence of the emperors of Mo- 
rocco, is the nearest city. Fez, interior in situation, owes 
its foundation to the Arab princes; and the residence of 
the Fatimites of the house of Edris made it a conside- 



AFRICA. CHAP. III. 



LIBYA, VEL AFRICA INTERIOR. SECT. V. 

ruble city. The Roman arms penetrated beyond this 
position, in the war undertaken in Mauretania, undeP 
{he reign of Claudius; for Suetonius Paulinus passed 
mount Jtlas, and found a river named Ger; a circum- 
stance that determines this passage to have been through 
that principal branch of Atlas, called Ziz. Tvt'o places 
■which are immediately beyond, one named Ger-silbin, 
the other Helel, preserve manifestly the ancient nances 
Cilaba and Alele. Though far distant from Phazania, 
Pliny transports them thiiher; and by their true situa- 
tion, the conquest of them should be ascribed to the 
commander above-mentioned rather than to Bulbus. 



SECTION FIFTH. 

LIBYA, VEL AFRICA INTERIOR. 

What remains to be delineated of the interior pails 
of Africa, may be announced under this title, as we find 
it in Ptolemy. To the Getulia immediately contiguous 
to Numidia and the Mauretanias, succeeds a vast space 
divested of all local circumstance, and exhibited in the 
chart under the title of Deserta Libya Xnterioris. Mela- 
710'GistulU Black Getulians, occupied it in antiquity, and 
confined on a country called Nigritia, which owes its 
name less to the Negro race in general, than to the river 
which traverses this part of Africa. The ancients knew 
this river under the name ot Mge?; which, contrary to 
the opinion they commonly had of it, directs its course 
from west to east, as Herodotus indeed seems to inti- 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 337 

SECT. V. LIBYA, VEL AFRICA INTERIOR. 

mate. For he relates that the Nasumones, sent by an 
Ammonian king to discover the sources of the Xiie, had 
found on their route, between the west and south, a 
great river flowing towards the east. But it is with this 
river, as wiih that before mentioned under the name of 
Gei'; enfeebled by frequent derivations, it perishes in 
the earth. The Arabian geographer poiius out lakes 
called Fresh Seas; where it is presumed the Niger dif- 
fuses what remains of its waters at its eastern extremity. 
A principal city named A'tgira by Ptolemy (that which 
became the residence of the Patau. ites. w lio, in the first 
ages of Islamism, erected a kingdom calitd Giuuia in 
this part of Africa) ought to be preferred to Tondjut or 
Toinbouctou, whose foundation by a Btibiry prince re- 
mounts but to the commencement of the thirteenth 
century. 

In the less remote and maritime part, the Autololes 
are mentioned as a great nation; from wnom the Koman 
frontier of Mauretania suffered molestation. Getuliyns, 
distinguished by the designation of i)ar^, have left their 
name to Darah, separated from Morocco by a branch 
of Mount Atlas. A^ to ihe Pharusii or Perorsi, we can 
only cite their names, there being a diversity of opinions 
concerning their situation. — On the shoie of the ocean 
Ptolemy offers in succession to Sala, a iletail of nume- 
rous positions, which it would be difficult and but little 
interesting to seek for in those actually existing What 
he indicates successively under the names of J (las Mi- 
nor and Adas Alajor, appear applicable to two promon- 
tories; the first of which maybe Cape Cantin, as he fixes 
that under the same parallel, or within a few minutes of 
i,t; and he is observed to be precisely accurate in his la- 



<1 
AFRICA. CHAP. 111. % 

r 1 



LIBYA, VEL AFRICA INTERIOR. 



titude of the Fretiim, or Strait. This cape must be the 
Soloe of the author, whoever he may be, of the memoir 
entitled the Feriplus of Hanno. For with a fleet of 
sixty vessels, after two-days' sail from the strait (a reck- 
oning which finds them about the latitude of Salee), 
standing westward, they made the promontory in ques- 
tion conformable to the topical disposition of the coast. 
If the conclusion that may be formed of the circum- 
stances of this relation be not absolutely the same with 
what is here given, this report of circumstances is at 
least a proof that we have not neglecieil tu consult it. 
The yltlas Major of Piulc.ny having 261 degrees of lati- 
tude, becomes of consequence Cape Bojadore; and in 
the Portui^uese charts prepared from the reports of na- 
vigators who opened the passage to India, after exploring 
this coast, the shore that follows Bojadore is called Ter- 
ra Alta, whether from the circumstance of its rising 
immediately from the margin of the sea, or from the 
mountainous aspect of the interior country. — In the in- 
terval of these two promontories a port named Ruaufiis 
may be represented by Azafi; and Mysocoras which suc- 
ceeds, by Mogador. — Another remarkable place on this 
coast, and which the Portuguese have named Santa Cruz, 
commanded by a castle called Tamara, should Tamusiga, 
—Cape Ger, which terminates a considerable gulf, at 
the bottom whereof is Santa Ciuz, may correspond 
with the promontory distinguished by tlie name of Her- 
cules^ to whom is attributed an expedition in this coun- 
try. — The Fortunatx InsuU are ranged under the same 
meridian, but in too low a latitude in Ptolemy: and as 
they are actually more northern than the greater pro- 
montory of Atlas, should^have preceded it in the order 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 339 

SECT. V. LIBYA, VEI. AFRICA INTERIOR. 

that we have followed. Strabo correctly places them 
opposite the coast of Mauretania; and Pliny, still more 
precise, finds their position opposite the nation of the 
^utololes. We owe the knowledge of their true situa- 
tion to the curiosity of Juba, king of Mauretania, in the 
judgment of Pliny more illustrious by his studies than 
by his dignity. Those of them that lie nearest to the 
continent, were called PurfiurariiX, as Juba intended to 
establish there a purple dye. The more remote being 
specially denominated the Fortunate Isles, we must re- 
cognise in them Lan^arota and Forteventura of which a 
French gentleman named Bethancourt took possession 
in the beginning of the fifteenth century. Canaria has 
given the name of the Canaries to these isles in general. 
From the snows which cover the summit of TenerifFe, 
the name of A''ivaria\s adjudged to this island; and what 
has been reported of a tree distilling water from its leaves 
as rain, in the isle of Ferro, may have occasioned the 
Latin name of Piuviala, and the Greek one of Ombrios, 
to be attributed to it. The names of Caprnria and Ju- 
nonia thus fall on Gomera and Palma. What makes 
the Canaries a remarkable object in geography, is the 
use that is still made of them as a point from which to 
commence the account of longitude; and, being the 
most western lands known to the ancients they with 
sitjnal propriety served them for that purpose. — The 
roost remarkable object beyond Cape Bojadore, is a 
spacious mouth of a river called by the Portuguese Rio 
do Ouro, or the River of Gold, and which n.ay corres- 
pond with the river named Salathi in Ptolemy, who in- 
dicates also a city of this name. And if the Lixus in 
the Periplus of Hanno be ascribed to an actual object, it 



340 AFRICA. CHAP. ni. 

LIBYA, VEL AFEICA INTERIOR. SECT. V, 

must be to this river; seeing that two clays of a southern 
course from the strait, and one of an eastern, are given 
to arrive at the isle named Cerne. In this circuit may 
be recognised Cape Blanca: and the isle of Arguin, 
which the Maures call Ghir, is probably Cerne. But a 
rigorous application of distances cannot be admitted in 
this case; since the distance between this isle and the 
strait is not estimated in the Peri/tlus as more consider- 
able than that which is evidently shorter, between Car- 
thage and the strait. — We must go farther to find the 
Daradus, a great river which Ptolemy brings from a 
mountain named Caphas; of which it may be said, that 
we have some intimation of the name Caffaba, towards 
the beginning of the Senegal river; which is not the 
Niger, as was formerly believed. — The great promori* 
tory which succeeds, under the name oi jirsenarium^ is 
evidently Cape-Verd; and the circumstance of the Rys' 
sadium being placed adjacent by Ptolemy, and a little 
retired withal, indicates this to be the point of Alma- 
dia on the south side of the cape. — Ptolemy furnishes 
in these regions objects for which we are indebted to 
him alone. He knew the river Gambia under the name 
of Stachir, succeeding these promontories. 7'A<? Hes' 
Jieru-Cetas., or the Western-Horn, is a Cape beyond 
this river; whence the coast, which hitherto tends south- 
ward looking to I he east, turns suddenly eastward to 
make a full face to the south; as is known by actual ob- 
servation. 

We arc now very near the ultimate point to which an* 
cient geography can be extended on the western coasl 
<»f Africa. The want of agreement and precision in the 
Jittle that the authors of antiquity furnish in the notice 



CHAP. III. AFRICA. 341 

SECT. V. LIBYA, VEL AFRICA INTERIOR. 

of objects SO remote with respect to tliem, would ren- 
der the discussion of them superfluous, without making 
the subject of it more interesting. It may however be 
briefly observed, that there is mention of a Sinus Hes- 
fien'cvs, or Western Gulf; of the lusulx Hesjieridum; of 
an isle Gorganis, or Gorgades Insula; of a mountain 
named T/icdn-oc/iema., or the Car of the Gods; and lastly 
of A''oti-cor}iu, or Southern Horn, a pi(ni!oniory which 
is said to have been the term of the voyage of the Car- 
thagenian fleet of Hanno. But elsewhere, in the Periplus 
that bears his name, it appears that this commander did 
not return to Carthage till ho had circumnavigated tlie 
continent of Africa. This incongruity confessedly ren- 
ders the navigation of Hanno suspicions: and female 
mariners called Gorillcs, and rivers of fire fulling into 
the sea, according to this Feri/dus., prove that the rela- 
tion is not to be credited in all that it reports. But if we 
give attention to the disposition of this coast, now too 
%vell known to admit conjecture, we shall find, after the 
Western Horn, a curve in the slmre, wliich incloses a 
great number of islands: and, in proceeding, v.'e discover 
no other mountain than that of bierra Leone, to which 
succeeds a point of laud named Cape St. Anne, separa- 
ted indeed from the continent by a narrow channel, but 
in, such a manner as escaped the observation of the first 
navigators among the moderns. — Concerning the situ- 
ation of the Hesfierii Mfhiofies, or Western ^Ethiopians 
it may be remarked, that the Maures being in posses- 
sion of all that the desert comprehends, and ..s far as 
the Senegal, it is from this river the population of the 
G g 



>42 AFRICA. CH 



AP. III. j| 



LIBYA, VEL AFRICA INTERIOR. SECT. \ , 

Negio races may be said to commence, which are suffi- 
ciently distinct fiom all other African people. 

After having thus terminated the third and last part 
of the ancient world, by tracing the shore of the Atlan- 
tic Ocean, there might appear something yet wanting, 
were we to observe a total silence concerning the fa- 
mous island of the same name with this ocean. But who 
will believe it can be refened to the new world, or con- 
tinent of America, and believe at the same time that 
the people who inhabited it, came, in an age niuch ante- 
rior to the tim^e of iustory, to make concpiestsin Europe 
and Asia, which on this occasion had no other means of 
repelling the invaders tliir.n what were found in the re- 
sistance and valour of the Athenians? Who does not 
rather see, in the narrative cf Plato on tliis event,* an 
Athenian willing to flatter his countrymen; and, ia 
what he publishes of the policy of the Atlantides, a 
philosopher occupied with specidalions more magnifi- 
cent than practicable? As this island appears no more,t 
it has been said that a continent, to which was attributed 
greater extent than to Africa and Asia united, was sub- 
merged in twenty-four hours: a catastrophe that is said 
to have rendered dangerous the navigation of the At- 
lantic Ocean, though it is no longer so. That there ex- 
isted an unknown continent, might well have made an 
hypothesis in the speculations of sonie of the learned 

• In Timaeus and Critias. 

f M. Bailly, the astronomer, endeavoured to prove that this 
island really existed; and he refers its situation to Nova Zam- 
bia: but less fanciful and more judicious authors have attacked 
bis conclusions with success. 



CHAP. m. AFRICA. 343 

SECT. V. LIBYIA, VEL AFRICA INTERIOR. 

among the ancients, as what they knew of land on the 
globe covered but a small part of its surface. Aristotle, 
in the book where he treats of tbe world, is explicit on 
this subject, without saying more ; a conduct more lau- 
dable than that which is fathered upon him in another 
book entitled " The Wonders." For in this work we 
find reported an island discovered by the Carthaginians 
which, though abundant in all things, was without inha- 
bitants; and it is also affirmed, that the rulers of that 
nation, in the fear of being deserted by their citizens, 
who were desirous of emigrating thither prohibited the 
navigation to it under pain of death: a tale not so mar- 
vellous indeed as what we read in the Dialogues of 
Plato, though meriting as little attention. 



H h 



PART ir. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

Bearing in mind the obscurity that dwells on soiifte 
of the objects of Postdiluvian geography, as we may 
say, of almost every age and every country, the student 
should not be disappointed when he is told, that positive 
certainty is not by any means pretended to be attached 
'to the location of Antediluvian positions in correspond- 
ing modern ones. All that we can promise is, the greater 
degree of certainty as to the prominent features, and the 
greater degree of probability as to those of minor im- 
port. For amidst the very numerous interpretations of 
this part of Scripture made by learned divines and 
others, the contrariety of opinion is so great as almost 
to reduce every prospect of consent to a faulty 

To illustrate this matter, we will mention the exam* 
pies that occasion the remark;, which indeed comprise 
nearly the whole of the Antediluvian geography trans- 
mitted to us in any shape. The Land of Nod is placed 
by Dr. Wells in Desert Arabia. Wilkinson, on the con- 
trary, places it in present Persia, about the situation of 
Susiana., as we presume, with most plausibiiity. Dr. 
Geddes, seemingly against all propriety, renders the 
river Phison or Pi&on the Araxes; and the Gihon, the 
Oxus; the one on the west of the Caspian sea, and the 
other on the east, which h\st is certainly the Gihoh of the 
present day: the Hiddekel he calls the Tigris. Tar other- 
wise is the opinion of Dr. Wells. He makes the Gihon 
the easterly channel of the two into which the Euphra- 
tes is divided after its union with the Tigris, sometime 
after its waters disembogue into the Persian gulf, and 
the Phison the westerly one; designating the Hiddekel 
by the Tigris withal. To us it seems that no better com- 
Hh2 



r>48 SACRED GEOGRAPUV. 



INTRODUCTION. 



promise can be made of such a cUfference, than that 
whi'ch may be seen in the table and map of this coun- 
try. There is less dispute as to the location of the La7id 
and Garden of Eden, and the identity of the Eiifihrates. 

In passing from our view of the Latid of Egijfit to 
that of the Promised Land, we have not availed our- 
selves of the usual privilege of mental aerostation, but, 
on the path of Moses and the Israelites, have matre ouv 
exody: thinking it best to assemble the objects that are 
spoken of in the renowned Exodus of the Jews, with a 
summary account of its incidents, in one table. 

We have judged it impracticable to reduce the geo- 
graphy of Cmiaan, after the conquest of Joshua, to the 
comparative table of corresponding ancient and modern 
names, for a reason too evident to repeat, that this coun- 
try abounded, beyond almost any other in times of anti- 
quity, with geographical and historical notices ;*wherc- 
as, at the present day, it has become almost desolate, 
and some of the most fruitful tracts formerly arc nov/ 
barren wastes. 

The same motive that actuated me to give a prelimi- 
nary sketch of the origin and migrations of Parent Na- 
tions to Part I., prompts me in like manner to insert 
here, a tabular view of the three first Patriarchal ages, 
with annotations to each, to give light and interest to 
the Sacred geography. The contest between these ta- 
bles must be looked for in Jap.het, S/ie?n, and //aw, in 
passing from the first to the second; in flaran, Abro' 
ham, and A^a/ior, in passing from the second to the third, 
and through Jacob to the twelve tribes. 

We have adopted a chronological order in the sue- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 394 

INTRODUCTION. 

cession, both of the Patriarchal and Geographical ta- 
bles, as nearly as the successive evolution of their ob- 
jects would admit of. According to this method, we 
have been under the necessity of giving more than one 
table of the same tract of country when its revolutions 
have so changed its civil divisions as to render them 
quite as foreign from each other, at different periods, as 
though the identity of territory itself had been changed* 
Of this, Canaan furnishes a striking instance. 

wv www vww^ vw 
THE FIRST AGB OF THE WOULD, 

The Antediluvian Patriarchs. 



1. Cain, born Anno Mundi the second." 

a. Enocli, son of Cain. 

b. Irad, son of Enoch. 

c. Mehujael, son of Irad. 

d. Methusael, son of Mehujael. 

e. Lamech, son of Methusael. He had by Adan, 
— Jabal, the inventor of tents and keeping of cattle; audi 
— Jnbal, the inventoi- of music. Also, by Zillah, 
— Tubal-Cain, the inventor of working in metals; and 
— Naamab, supposed to be Venus. 

2. Abel, had no offspring-. 

3. Seth, born A. M. 130, died 104?, aged 912. 

a. Enos, son of Seth, born 235, died 1140, aged 905. 

b. Cainan, son of Enos, born 325, died 1235, aged 910. 
e. Mahalaleel, son ofCainan, born 395,died 1290, aged 895 

d. Jared, son of xMahalaleel, born 460, died 1422, aged 963 

e. Enoch, son of Jared, born 622, was translated to heaven 
/. Methuselalijson of Enoch, born 687, died 1656, aged 969 
g. Lamech, son of Methuselah, b. 864, died 1651, aged 777 
h Noah, son of Lamech, born 1056, aged 600 at the Flood 
— Japhet, his first son, born 1556, aged 100 at the Flood 
— Shem, his second son, born 1558, aged 98 at the Flood 

\^ —Ham, his third son, born 1560, aged 96 at the Flood. 

* The better opinion seems to be, that Cain was born the first, 
and Abel the second year of the world. See Sacred Mirror, by 
the Rev. Thomas Smith, page 5. 



^-<: 



350 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

INTRODUCTION. 

Annotations. 

Adam the first man, and Eve the first woman, form- 
ed by the immediate power of God, on the sixth day of 
the creation,* in a state of purity and happiness: they fell 
into guilt and misery by transgressing the divine com- 
mand ; were banished from their blissful residence in 
the garden of Eden ; sentenced to suffering and death ; 
yet favoured with the promise of a Saviour. (^Gen.cliap. 
3.) Adam died, Anno Mundi 930 ; having seen eight 
generations. Eve died Anno Mundi 940. 

Cain, the first man born of a woman, followed hus- 
bandry, murdered his brother Abel, and went to live in 
the land of Nod, where he built the first city, and named 
it after iiis son, Enoch. His posterity were called the 

* The following note from Mr. Pinkevton we presume will 
not be considered as any burthen to truth, on whichever side 
it stands, but rather, as tending- to its further development, 
lie says — "xVncient chronology has been ruined by attempting- 
to force it to Scripture, which is surely no canon of chronology; 
for the Septuagint, translated from MSS., far more ancient than 
any we have, differs from the present Hebrew no less than 576 
years before the time of Noah ; and 880 years from Noah to 
the time of Abraham. The Greek church, certainly as well in- 
structed as that of the Roman, dates the creation 5508 years 
before Christ. Epiphanius, Augustin, and other fathers, follow 
the Hebrew of their time, which agrees with the Septuagint. 
But ancient chronology ought only to be estimated from an- 
cient authors, and kept quite apart from scriptural chronology. 
The date of the creation, &c., can never be decided, either by 
Scripture or otherwise; and such speculations are futile. In 
other points, the authority of the learned Usher, now univer- 
sally allowed the best chronologer, is followed," 5ic. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 351 

INTRODUCTION. 

Children of Men., of whom there is no account either 
respecting their births or deaths; nor is there any of 
his death. 

Lamech introduced polygamy. He is supposed to be 
the Jupiter of the pagans; Jabal, Pan; Jubal, JiJioUo; 
Tubal-Cain, Vulcan; and Naamah, Venus. 

Abel, the second son, tended flocks, and died by his 
brother's hand, a martyr to obedience. 

Seth, the third son, was born soon after the murder 
of Abel. His posterity were called the Children of God. 
He lived cotemporary with all the Antediluvian Patri- 
archs, except Noah. 

Enos was cotemporary with all the Antediluvian Pa- 
triarchs. In his days the worshippers of God began to 
be distinguished. 

Enoch walked with God 365 years, and was trans« 
lated into heaven without seeing death. 

Methuselah, the oldest of all men, having been a 
cotemporary with Adam 243 years, and with Noah 600, 
died a little before the flood. 

Noah. In the days of Noah, by the sinful alliances 
of the posterity of Seth, or Sons of God, with the pos- 
tei'ity of Cain, or Daughters of Men, and other causes, 
the world was filled with universal corruption. Noah 
was commissioned by the Almighty to call them to re- 
pentance during 120 years, while he was preparing the 
ark. On their incorrigible disobedience, the universal 
deluge (which took place A. M. 1656, and lasted 150 
days, produced by a rain of 40 days,) at last destroyed 
them all, except Noah and his family, with a sufficient 



352 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



INTRODUCTIOIJ. 



number of every species of animals, who were preserved 
in the ark. 

WVVWVWVV%<WW*/V 

THE SECOND AGE OF THE WORLD. 

The Postdiluvian Patriarchs till the call of Abraham; in- 
cluding the Plantation of Nations, and the Origin of 
Languages. 



rl. GoME-R,* and sons, peopled the N. W- parts of Eu- 
rope, viz. 

a. Ashkenaz, son of Gomer, settled France. 

b. Riphat, son of Gomer, settled the British Isles, &c. 

c. Togarmah, son of Gomer, settled Germany, Swe- 
den, &c. 

2. Magog, and posterity, peopled Russia, Siberia, &c. 

3. Madai, uncertain. 

4. Javan, and sons, peopled the N. E. coast of the Me- 
diterranean, viz. 

a. Elisha, son of Javan, settled Greece. 

b. Tarshish, son of Javan, settled the S. of Asia Minor. 

c. Kittim, son of Javan, settled Macedon- 

d. Dodanim, son of Javan, settled W. coast of Asia 

Minor. 
.1 Tubal, and posterity peopled Spain. 
6. Meshecii, and posterity, peopled Itah*. 
^7. TiRAs, and posterity, peopled Thrace. 






* These tables of the patriarchal ages are taken from a com- 
pilation in Wilkinson's Classical .Itlas. They are subject to 
slight deviation from accuracy, which we shall correct in its 
proper place. Dr. Wells makes it appear very clearly that Go- 
mer and his three sons settled in Asia Minor on the southern 
coast of the Euxine; and that it was the migrations of their de- 
scendants that afterwards settled Norway, Sweden, Germany, 
France, and the British Isles, as we shall see in the sequel. 






SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 353 



INTRODUCTION. 



1. Elam, and posterity, peopled Persia. 
2- AsHUR, and posterity, peopled Assyi-ia, and built Ni- 
neveh. 

3. Arphaxad, born 1658, and died 2096, peopled Ca- 

ramania. 
a Salah, son of Arphaxad, born 1693, died, 2126, aged 

4.S3. 
b. Eber, or Heber, son of Salah, born, 1723, died 2187; 
father of the Hebrews. 

(«). Joktan, son of Eber, peopled S. E. of Asia, viz. 
— Sheba, offspring of Joktan, settled Hindoostan ov 

India. 
— Orphir, offspring of Joktan, settled Molucca Isles, 

&c. 
— Havilah, offspring of Joktan, settled Thibet, &c. 
(b). Peleg, son of Eber, bom 1757, when the earth 

was divided; died 1996. 
(c). Reu, son of Peleg, born 1787, died 2026, aged 

239. 
(d). Serug, son of Reu, born 1819, died 2049, aged 

230. 
(e). Nahor, son of Serug, born 1849, d»1997, at Ur. 
(/). Terah, son of Nahor, born 1878,, died 2083, at 

Haran. 
— Haran, son of Terah, born, 1948, at Ur, died 2073. 
— Abraham, son of Terah, born 2008, at Ur; called 

thence 2083, died 2183. 
— Nahor, son of Terah, born at Ur, and died at Ha- 
ran. 
— Sarah, half sister, and wife of Abraham, born 

2018, died 2145. 

4. LuD, and posterity, peopled Lydia in Asia Minor. 

5. Aram and sons, peopled Syria and Mesopotamia, viz. 

a. Uz, son of Aram, settled the S. W. part of Syria. 

b. Hul, son of Aram, settled the N. W. part of Syria. 

c. Gether, son of Aram, settled the S. E. part of Syria. 
d Mash, son of Aram, settled Mesopotamia. 

"1. Gush, and sons peopled the S of Africa and Arabia, 
viz. 
a. Seba, son of Cush, settled Arabia. 

b. Sabtah, son of Cush, settled Ethiopia. 

c. Raamah, daughter of Cush. 

(«). Sheba, offspring of Raamah, settled Sofala. 

d. N"im:od (Belus), son of Cush, founded Babylon. 



354 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



2. MizsAIM, and sons, peopled Egypt, &c. viz. 

a. Lehabim, son of Mizraim, settled Lybia. 

b. Caphtorim, son of Mizraim, ancestor of the Copts. 

c. Casluhim, son of Mizraim, settled between Egypt 
and Canaan. 
(«). Pbilistim, son of ''asluhim, ancestor of the Phi- 

listians 

3. Phut, ancestor of the Moors. 

4. Canaan, ancestor of the Canaanites, viz. 
"g-^ a. Sidon, ancestor of the Phoenicians, dwelt at Sidon. 
•< b. Heth, ancestor of the Hittites, dwelt at Hebron. 

c. Jebusite, ancestor of the Jebusites, founded Jeru- 
salem. 

d. Aniorite, ancestor of the Amorites, dwelt at Hesh- 
bon. 

e. Girgasite, ancestor of the Girgasites, dwelt at Gir- 
gesa. 

/. Hivite, ancestor of the Hivites, dwelt at Gibeon. 

g: Arkite, ancestor of the Arkites, dwelt at Archa. 

k. Sinite, ancestor of the Sinites, dwelt near the de- 
sert of Sin. 

i. Arvadlte, ancestor of the Arvadites, dwelt at Arad; 
and 

J. Hamathite, ancestor of the Hamathites, dwelt at 
Hamatho 

wvvt^wxwvvw 

jintiotalions. 

Noah, was 754 years old at the Confusion, and 950 
at his death; which happened two years before the birth 
of Abraham. His posterity began to build Babel, in 
the land of Shinar, 1757; which continued 53 years, 
till the Confusion of Tongues, 1810 from the Creation 
of the World, orabout 2190* before Christ. The original 



* See the dispersion of the Scythians by Ninus, in the epoch.s 
of the first Gothic progress, page 46, with which this period 
nearly corresponds. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



number of nations and languages after the confusion, ap- 
pears to have been seventy — " every one after their fa- 
milies, after their tongues, in their nations.'' (Gen. 10. 
5.). Dr. Wells says that as to the number of languages 
then began to be spoken, they could not probably be few- 
er than there were nations, nor more than there were fa- 
milies. If there were no more than there were nations, ov 
heads of nations, then the number is easily counted. Se- 
ven in Japhet, four in Ham , and five in Shem. But if there 
were as many as there were families at the confusionj 
their number cannot be known; because Moses (as Mr. 
Mede observes) does not make an enumeration of all 
the families or heads of families. However, the com- 
mon opinion is, that their number was according to the 
number of families; and this Moses seems to insinu- 
ate, because he joins throughout Genesis, < families and 
tongues' together. 

Abram, married his half sister Sarai at Ur, from 
whence he was called, together with his father Terah, 
brother Nahor, and nephew Lot, to leave Chaldea in 
2078. They then dwelt in Haran in Mesopotamia, from 
whence he was again called in 2083, on his father's 
death, to remove to Canaan; after which his name was 
changed to Abraham, and his wife's to Sarah. She is 
the only woman of this period whose ;isj;e is recorded. 
After her death Abraham took a second wife named 
K.eturah. 

The periods of the following tables are reckoned re- 
trospectively from the birth of Christ. 
I i 



356 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



INTRODUCTION. 

THE THIRD AGE OF THE WORLD. 

From the Call of .Abraham to the Exodus; in two Sections. 

SECTION I. 

fl. Lot, nephew of Abraham. 

a. Moab, ancestor of the MoaWtes. 
I b. Ammon, ancestor of the Ammonites. 

I 2. ISCAH. 

L3. MiLCAH, wife of Nahor. 

"1. IsHMAEL, ancestor of the Ishmaelites, born B. C. 1910, 
died 1773. 

a. Kedar, son of Ishmael. "^ 
(fl). Hamal, son of Kedar. C Ancestors of Mahomet. 
— Nobet, Salaman, &c. j 

b, Adbeel, Mibsam, Mishma, ") „ . /• ^i t u i 
T^ ■. T»* -- TT J rr. ' / Pnnces of the Ishmael 



Dumah, Massa, Hadar, Te- ' 
ma, &c. sons of Ishmael. j ^ ^^ 
c. Bashemath, daughter of Ishmael, and third wife of 
Esau. 

2. Isaac, was born 1896, died in Canaan 1716, aged 180. 

a. Esau, son of Isaac, born 18,37, ancestor of the Edom- 
ites. 
(a). Eliphaz, son of Esau by his first wife Adah. 

- Amelek, son of Eliphaz, by Timnah. 

- Teman Omar Zepho, ") other children of Eliphaz. 
.^ Gatan, Kenaz, &c. 3 

w J (i). Jeush, Jaalam, Korah, children of Esau by his se- 

"^ cond wife Aholibamah. 

(c). Reuel, son of Esau by his third wife Bashemath. 

- Nahath, Zerah, Missah, ^ ^^^^^^ ^j^.j^^^^ ^^ ^^^^j 
and ohammah, 3 

b. Jacob, or Israel^ born 1837 in Canaan, died 1689 in 
Egypt. 

3. Zimran, &c. to No. 8. were Abraham's children by Ke- 
turali. 

4. JOKSBAN. 

t Dedtn' \ *^^^''1^«" of Joksban. 

(a). Ashurim and Letushim, descendants of Dedan. 

5. Medan. 

6. -Midi an, ancestor of the Midianites. 
a. t:phah, Epher Hanoch,^ C\{Mvcn of Midian. 

Abidan, and Eld..ah, _> 

~. ISHBAK. 

\J6. Shuaii. 



SACRED GEOttRAPKT. 



JTRODUCTION. 



Childi-en of Nahor by Reumah. 



rl- Tebah. 

2. Gaham. 

3. Thahash. 

4. Macah. 

5. Ut,, ancestor of Job^ 
/ 6. Buz, ancestor of Elihu, J. Children by Milcah 

7. Bethuel, lived at Haran, 

a. Laban, son of Bethuel, lived at Haran. 
(a). Leah, daughter of Laban, and first wife of Jacob, 
(e). Rachel, daughter of Laban, and second wife of 

Jacob. 

b. Rebecca, daughter of Bethuel, and wife of Isaac. 



%< 

^ 



i 



SECTION II. 



1. Reuben, born before Christ 1758, had four sons. 

2. Simeon, born before Christ 1757, had six sons. 

3. Levi, born before Christ 1756, died 1619, aged 137. 

a. Gershon, son of Levi. 

b. Kohath, son of Levi, aged 133 at his death. 

(a). Amram, son of Kohath, died in Egypt, aged 
137. 

— Aaron, son of Amram, born 1574, died 1451, 
aged 126. 

— Moses, son of Amram, born 1571j died 1451, 
aged 120. 

c. Merari, son of Levi. 

d. Jochebed, daughter of Levi, and wife of Amram, 

4. JuDAH, born before Christ 1755; had thi-ee sons. 

5. IssACHAH, had four sons. 

6. Zebulun, had three sons. 
1.(7). Dinah, Jacob's only daughter. 

'7. Joseph, born before Christ 1745, died 1635. 

a. Manasseh, son of Joseph by Asenath. 

b. Ephraim, son of Joseph by Asenath. 

8. Benjamin, born before Christ 1734, had ten sons. 



£ -O. Dan. 

10. Naphtali, had four sons. 



o.^ 11. Gad, 
Lis C12. AsHu 



had seven sons. 

R, had four sons, and one daughter. 



Hgndraaid to Rachel. 



t Handmaid to Leah. 



358 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



rTKODUCTION. 



Annotations. 



SECTION I. 



Lot lived at Sodom till its destruction, of which he 
Avas preadmonished by angels, who brought him, his 
v.'ife, and two daughters out of "the city, and ordered 
them to flee with all possible pi'ecipitation to the moun- 
tains; warning them not to look back, lest they should 
be involved in the general destruction. His wife, diso- 
beying this injunction, was immediately changed into a 
pillar of salt. Several of his children died at Sodom. 

MoAB and Am-mon were children of Lot by his two 
daughters. Their posterity were giants who dwelt in 
the country they conquered from the gigantic Emims 
and Zamzummims, 

IsHMAEL was the son of Abraham by Hagar, the 
handmaid of Sarah. His posterity, the Ishmaelites or 
ilagarenes, settled in Arabia; and their descendants 
have been called Arabs or Saracens. 

Isaac was the son of Abraham by his first wife Sa- 
rah, Isaac had, by his only wife Rebecca, twin sons 
Esau and Jacob. 

Esau, also called Edom, in consequence of swearing 
away his birthright or right of primogeniture in favour 
of Jacob, was ancestor of the Edomites by his wives 
Adah, Aholibamah, and Bashemath or Mahalah; the 
two former were Canaanitish women, and the latter Ish- 
maelitish. The Edomites dwelt in the land of the Ho- 
rims, or Horites, whose daughters they married, and 
by descent or conquest, possessed the country. They 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



INTRODUCTION. 



were first dukes, and afterwards kings of Edom, before 
there was any king of Israel. 

Jacob went from Canaan, to his uncle Laban at Ha- 
ran or Padan-aram, in Mesopotamia, B. C. 1759, with 
whom he lived 20 years, and having married Leah and 
Rachel, returns to Canaan. 

ZiMRAM, JoKSBAN, &CC. to No. 8. of the table inclu- 
sively, children and grand children of Abraham by Ke- 
turali, were settled in the east country, by their father, 
before his death. 

Nahor, was born at Ur, and died at Haran. He had 
two wives; the name of one was Rcumah and the other 
Milcah. 

Vvwvwvwvvx 
SECTION II. 

Jacob or Israel, in the decline of life, B. C. 1706, 
removed his family, 70 in number, to Egypt, by the so- 
licitation of his son Joseph, and the invitation of the 
Aingof Egypt — Joseph having been sold i&to Egypt, 23 
years before that period, by his brothers; and having 
been advanced, by reason of his wisdom, from a state of 
slavery to the highest trust. In his last moments Ja- 
cob blessed his sons severally, and after his death was 
carried back to Canaan and interred, by his request, at 
the cave of Machpelah. His obsequies being perform- 
ed, his sons, progenitors of the twelve tribes, returned 
to abide in Egypt. 

Joseph. But little more is recorded of Israel's fa- 
mily, till just before the death of Joseph, when he sent 
for his brethren, and told them, in the same prophetic 
I i 2 



360 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

i INTRODUCTION. 

spirit that illuminated his aged father, that God would 
assuredly perform his gracious promise, by bringing 
their posterity out of Egypt, and giving them the land 
of Canaan for an inheritance. He therefore earnestly re- 
quested they would not bury him in Goshen, but lay his 
body in a coffin, and deposit it in some secure place, 
whence they might take it on the accomplishment of 
his predictions, to the Land of Promise. For the ful- 
filment of this request, his brethren bound themselves 
by an oath. 

Moses. Subsequently to this melancholy occurrence, 
the descendants of Israel increased prodigiously both in 
s-trength and numbers, so much that the natives, who 
began to fear that they would eventually cover the whole 
face of the kingdom, resolved to weaken them by taxes, 
labour, and every species of tyrannical oppression. But 
the first measures failing of the desired effect, thereup- 
on a diabolical edict was promulgated, commanding /Aa; 
every male child of the Hebrews that tvas born thereafter 
should be cast into the J^/ile, and that none but the females 
should be fiermitted to live. Under this edict Moses was 
born, to humble the pride of Egypt, and to lead his 
groaning countrymen in triumph from the house of bon- 
dage. 

Exodus. The time having arrived for the fulfiment 
of the divine promise of bringing the Israelites out of 
Egypt; and Moses having prevailed with Phajaoh, by 
means of many miraculous feats, to permit the Jews to 
depart for the Land of Promise — they set out from Jia- 
tnesis. When ihey arrived at Mount Sinai, in the Wil- 
derness, God appointed them a day for the promulga- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 361 

INTRODUCTION. 

tion of his Decalogue. On the appointecl day, Moses 
committed the care of his people to Aaron and Hur, 
and went up with Joshua into the the mountain, where 
he continued forty days, while God gave him the ten 
commandments, on two tables of stone, called tables of 
COVENANT, together with the whole plan of the Jewish 
tabernacle, and mode of worship. After Moses descend- 
ed from the mount, he desired his congregation to bring 
an offering of different materials for the holy taberna- 
cle; and he was immediately supplied with a profusion 
of jewels, metals, ointments, perfumes, and every other 
requisite article ; which he distributed to proper artifi- 
cers and workmen, whom God had endowed with the- 
peculiar skill to contrive, and ability to execute, the va- 
rious designs that had been shown to Moses on the 
mountain. The work was performed with such alacrity 
and diligence, that in less than six months the taberna- 
cle, with all its magnificent furniture and apparatus, was 
set up at the foot of Mount Sinai, and the pompous wor- 
ship of the Israelites was begun. — We will subjoin the 
results of the mustering and numbering of the tribes of 
Israel, the patriarchal chiefs of each, and the order of 
their encampment about the tabernacle, with a scheme 
of the same. 

Reuben. The tribe of Reuben was 46,500 in num- 
ber; south of the tabernacle, and east of Simeon. Eli- 
zuu patriarchal chief. 

Simeon. The tribe of Simeon was 59,300 in num- 
ber; south of the tabernacle, apd west of Reuben. She- 
LUMiEL, patriarchal chief 

Gershon. The Gershonites were 7500 in number; 



362 SACRED GEOGBA.PHY. 

INTRODUCTION. 

west of the tabernacle; carried the curtains, veils. Sec. 
Eliasaph, patriarchal chief. 

K.OHATH. The Kohathites were 8600 in number; 
south of the tabernacle; carried the Sanctuary, Ark^ 
Sec. Elisaphax, patriarchal chief. 

Merari. The Merarites were 6200 in number; 
south of the tabernacle; carried the boards, bands, 8cc. 
ZuRiEL, patriarchal chief. 

JuDAH. The tribe of Judah were 74,600 in number; 
east of the tabernacle, and south of Issachar. Naason, 
patriarchal chief. 

Issachar. The tribe of Issachar was 54,400 in num- 
ber; east of the tabernacle, and south of Judah. Ne- 
THANEEL, patriarchal chief. 

Zebulun. The tribe of Zebulun was 57,400 in num- 
ber; east of the tabernacle, and south of Issachar. Eli- 
AH, patriarchal chief. 

Manasseh. The tribe of Manasseh was 32,200 in 
number; west of the tabernacle, and north of Ephraim. 
Gamaliel, patriarchal chief. 

Ephraim. The tribe of Ephraim was 40,500 in 
numberj west of the tabernacle, and south of Manasseh. 
Elishamah, patriarchal chief. 

Benjamin. The tribe of Benjamin was 35,400 in 
number; west of the tabernacle and north of Manasseh. 
Abidan, patriarchal chief. 

Dan. The tribe of Dan was 62,700 in number; north 
of the tabernacle, and west of Asher. Ahiezer pa- 
triarchal chief. 

Napiitali. The tribe of Naphtali was 53,400 in 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



563^ 



INTRODUCTIOI 



number; north of the tabernacle, and east of Asher. 
Ahirah, patriarchal chief. 

Gad. The tribe of Gad was 46,650 in number; south 
of the tabernacle, and west of Simeon. Eliasaph, pa- 
triarchal chief. 

Asher. The tribe of Asher was 41,500 in number; 
north of the tabernacle, and east of Dan. Pagiel, pa- 
triarchal chief. 

Caleb and Joshua. Caleb was a descendant of Ju- 
dah: Joshua was a descendant of Joseph. 

vwvwvwvw 

A SCHEME OF THE CAMP IN THE WILDERNESS. 



Cattle. 


Dan. 


Asher. 


Naphtali. 


Cattle. 


Benjamin. 


Merari. 

-W. ^1 THE III E., 
tr^ TABERNACLE, ^n § 

Kohath. - 
S. 

A 


Judah. 


Manasseh. 


Issachar. 


Ephraim. 


Zebulun. 
L 


Cattle. 


Gad. Simeon. 


Reuben. Cattle. 
1 



PART IT. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



TABLE I. 



ANTEDILUVIAN COUNTRIES. 



Ancient. 
J. Land of Edex, 

o. Paradise, or garden of E- 
den, 



2. Land op Nob, 
«. Enocli — citj'. 



Modern. 

1. Shinar, Babylonia, and Jrak 

successively. 
a. (On the common channel of 
the Euphrates, Tigris, &c. 
About sixty miles from the 
Persian gulf). 

2. Elam, Susiana, and Persia^ 

successively. 
a. Built by Cain, in the land 
of Nod. 



1. Pison, or Phison, 

2. Gihon, 

3. Hiddekel, 

4. Euphrates, or Perath, 



RIVERS. 



1. Tigris. 

2. (Uncertain). 

3. Zeindek (Gyndes). 

4. Euphrates, or Great RiVeiv 



Remarks. 



As the sacred. history is very short in other particu- 
lars relating to the antediluvian -world (that is, the state 
of the world before the flood) so is it in reference to its 
geography; all the places thereof mentioned by Moses 
being either the Garden of Eden^ with such places as 



366 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

ANTEDILUVIAIT COUNTRIES. 

belong to the description of its situation in the land qf 
Eden, or the land of Nod^ and the city of Enoch built 
therein. 

From the words of Moses it is evident that the coim- 
try of Eden extended beyond the valley through which 
passed the channel of the united waters of the Tigris 
and the Euphrates, Sec. for the text says that a river 
^Oent out of Eden to water the garden; and from thence 
it was parted and became into four heads. But the am- 
biguity of the text in this part is such, that we cannot 
determine how far the land of Eden extended north- 
wardly on the banks of the Tigris and Euphrates^ or 
southwardly in the course of the bifurcation of their 
common channel, before their waters disembogued into 
the Persian gulf. The probability, however, is, that its 
limits were undefined, and that its extent may be appli- 
ed to the greater part of the country watered by these 
two rivers, at least as far as the mountains of Armenia^ 
corresponding with what, after the deluge, was called 
the land of Shinar. — There is no doubt as to the Gar- 
den of Eden or Paradise, which Moses evidently con- 
fines to the common channel of these rivers. — The 
term Eden, denoting pleasure, or delight, by its prima- 
ry acceptation in Ihe Hebrew language, has been im- 
posed as a proper name on several places: as the Eden 
or Beth-Eden, mentioned by the prophet Amos, near 
Damascus; and a village on Mount Lebanus of the 
same name, besides others; and therefore mistaken for 
the site of the original terrestrial Paradise. Hence, too, 
it is rationally conceived that the Gardeti of Eden was 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 367 

ANTEDILUVIAN COUNTRIES. 

the original pattern of those curious gardens which the 
princes of the east caused to be made, probably in imi- 
lalion of the Paradise of our forefathers. Such an one 
was that Golden Garden, valued at Jive hundred talents, 
■which Aristobulus, king of the Jews, presented to Pom- 
pey; and which Pompey carried in triumph and conse- 
crated to Jupiter in the Capilol. It is also observable 
that the conformity between \.\\q \iox^^ garden of Eden 
and garden of jidon, may show the origin of those gar- 
dens consecrated to Adonis, which the Greeks, Egyp- 
tians, and Assyrians planted in earthen vessels, and sil- 
ver baskets, to adorn their houses withal, as well as to 
carry about in their processions. In short there is no 
doubt that the Gardeii of Eden, planted by the hand of 
God, in a supernatural manner, has been a pattern from 
which the poets have imagined their Fortunate Islands, 
the Elysian Fields, the Meadoivs of Pluto, and the Iles- 
fierides, whose golden apples were guarded by a dragon- 
— Dr. Wells in his Geography of the old Testament, is 
of opinion, that the Aik wa;^ built in the land of Eden, 
where the antediluvian patriarc hs are supposed to have 
remained, though ejected from the Garden. He shows 
that the Ark was built of cypress, whence the Greeks 
honoured the bones of their deceased warriors with 
" cypress arks, or cofRns." 

We have only to add here a conjecture as to the situ- 
ation of the land of J^od, to which Cain was banished, 
and the city of Enoch, which he built therein. Moses 
says expressly that the land of JVod lay before Eden. 
There are two ways of removing the ambiguity of the 
preposition before. In the first place Dr. Wells would 
K k 



363 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

I'ROM THE DELUGE 

have the front of Eden to respect Egypt, where Moses 
wrote, which would give it a location in Arabia: but as 
the orientals, particularly the Egyptians, always held 
the east in the greatest veneration, on account of its be- 
ing the direction of the rising sun, I would prefer to un- 
derstand the /ron: ©/"iSt/ew as respecting that quarter; 
and this would place JV'od in Susiana or Persia, Ac- 
cordingly the learned bishop of Soissons observes that 
Ptolemy, in his description of Susiana, places there a 
city called Anuchtha; and, that the final syllable in this 
name being only distinctive of the feminine in the Chal- 
dee tongue, leaves J nuchy which, is without difficulty the 
same as Enoch. 

WVVWVWVW 

TABLE II. 

FROM THE DELUGE TO THE CONFUSION. 

Ancient. Modern. 



1. Country of Ararat, 
a. Mount Ararat, 

2. Lanp of Singar, Shinar, 

a. Singar — city, 

b. Sing-aras mountain, 

c. Sem, or Shem — city, 

d. Babel — city and tower, 

e. Erech, 



1. Present Armeniri. 

a. Mountains of Armenia. 

2. Mesopotamia and Babylonia, 

now Irak. 

a. Between tlie Euphrates and 
Tigris. 

b. Supposed to have given 
name to the land of Shinar. 

c. Zama of Ptolemy. 

d. Babylon, or B'lbil. 

e. Aracca, of Ptolemy. 



Remarks. 
The short account of the antediluvian world, given in 
the six first chapters of Gc-nesi~s, is followed by the 7lh 
and 81 i'. cliapicis "of the sa . e book with an account of 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 36d 

TO THE CONFUSION. 

the deluge, or flood; upon the abating whereof, the sa- 
cred historian tells us that the -Ark rested upon the 
tnountain o^ Ararat. From this period to the confusion 
of tongues by which God put a stop to the building of 
the tower of Babel, the geographical notices are as few 
as those anterior to it, as just seen; and nearly in the 
same region of country, only contracting the eastern, 
and extending the northern limit. These narrow limits 
of geography render it easy to comprehend the expres- 
sion, as applying to that period, that " the whole earth 
was of one language." ' 

It is unanimously agreed by the learned, that Ararat 
denotes, in sacred writ, the country called by the Greeks 
and other western nations Armenia: whence it follows 
that the mountains o^ Ararat are the same as the moun- 
tains of Armenia; though they might have extended 
much beyond the limits of Armenia or the country of 
Ararat^ as does the immense chain of Mount Taurus of 
which it was a part. According to the opinion of some, 
the ark rested upon that part of Mount Ararat which 
was called the Gordaan mountain, near the head of the 
Tigris. 

As to the land of Shinar, it is not to be doubted that 
it was the valley along which the Tigris runs, probably 
till it falls into the Persian gulf. In the northern part of 
this valley, in the mountains oi Arinenia^ we find in old 
writers both a city called Singara, and a mountain called 
Singaras; from which it is highly probable that the ad- 
joining valley took the name of Shinar. — It is plain 
from scripture that Babel was the original of the famous 
city of Babylon; nor is it to be doubted that Erech was 



370 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

FROM THE DELUGE 

the same with the city of Jracca, mentioned by Ptole- 
my and other ancienls: and Moses expressly says that 
^abel and Erech lay in the land of S/iinai: 

Noah and his family having descended, in the course 
of the Tigris from the mount and land of Ararat, enter- 
ed and settled in the southern part of the land of Shinar^ 
where they built the cily of Shem. There, (according 
to tlie conjecture of Dr. Wells,) Noah,* Shem, and Ja- 
phet, if not Ham, continued, opposing the construction 
of the tower of Babel, while the undertakers of it re- 
moved to some distance from the patriarchs, and pitch- 
ed upon a place more suitable for their purpose, on the 
banks of the Euphrates, afterwards the site of the city 
of Babylon, as we have said. However this be, they 
suffered equally with their presumptuous offspring, 
who would thus assail the kingdom of Heaven, and were 
included as principals in the dispersion that ensued; 
which has been recited in the Introduction, and is again 
repeated in the following table, with corrections from 
Wells. 



* The author of the Sacred Mirror says, that Noah, after the 
Deluge, having received inestimable marks of afl'ection from 
the Great Object of his adoration, descended from the moun- 
tains of Ararat, and applied himself to husbandry. After the 
scene of his inebriation, at the time of his vintage, the same au- 
thor tells us that no further particulars are recorded of Noah, 
but that he died in the 950th year of his age: so that it is un- 
certain where he passed the remaining two hundred years of 
his life after the confusion. The Orientals, however, affirm, 
that he was buried in Mesopotamia, where his sepulchre is still 
shown, in the vicinity of an edifice which is called Dair Abu- 
nab, or the monastery of our father. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 371 

TO THE CONFUSION. 

As to the object of this fabric, some have been absurd 
enough to think, that the undertakers of it designed 
thereby to get up to heaven, because Moses uses this 
expression:— Zef jis build a city and a totver^ iv/ioae tofi 
may reach unto heaven: and hence arose the fable among 
the poets, of the giants assailing the kingdom of Jufii- 
(er, by piling mountain upon mountain. But it is to be 
remembered that it is evident from other parts of scrip- 
lure, that this form of expression was intended to de- 
note no more than a tower of great height: for thus we 
read in Deut. 1. 98, and elsewhere, of cities great and 
walled uji to heaven. And the like expression was fa- 
YnilJar to the Greeks; such as reaching up, to heaven^ 
and reaching to the sun,, are frequently used by the poets 
in speaking of things of an extraordinary height. Nei- 
ther does it seem true that it was designed to preserve 
the undertakers from being destroyed by a second Jlood^ 
nor from the general conflagration,, which they are sup- 
posed to have had some premonition of: for had they 
designed thereby to preserve themselves from a second 
deluge, they would not have chosen so low a place to 
build their tower upon; and had they wished to pre- 
serve themselves from fire, it would have seemed more 
probable that they might secure themselves under 
ground. From the continuation of the text, however, 
we may discover the true object of the tower: — and let 
us ?na/ce zis a name, &c. from which it is evident tliat 
they undertook this stately and useless fabric through 
ambitious pride and vain glory, which is offensive in 
the sight of the Almighty; wherefore he put a stop to 
K k 2 



372 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

their work and punished their foolish vanity by their 
dispersion and a confusion of their language. 



TABLE III. 



OF THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 



I. Japhet,* or IstES op the 
Gentiles. 

1. Gomer(l) and his three 
sons, viz. 

a. Aslikenaz. 

b. Riphat. 

c. Togarmah. 

2. Javan and his fotu' sons, 
viz. 

a. Tarshish.(2) 

b. Kittim or Cittim.(3) 

c. Elishah.(4) 
rf. Dodanim.(5) 

S. Mesech or Mosoch.(6) 

4. Tubal.(7) 

5. x\lagog.(8) 

6. Madai.(9) 

7. Tu-as.(10.) 



I. Asia Minor, and the 

Neighbouring Isles, &.c. 

1. Nortliern parts of Asia 
Minor, viz. 

a. Phrygia. 

b. Paphlagonia. 

c. Cappadocia and PontUB, 
partly. 

2. Southern pait of Asia Mi- 
nor, viz. 

a. Cilicia. 

b. Pamphylia and Pisidia- 

c. iEoUa. 

d. Doris. 

3. Cappadocia and Armenia. 

4. Iberia, &c. 

5. Russia, partly. 

6. Media. 

7. Thrace. 



* The colonies of Japhet's posterity spread over part of 
Asia and Eiirope, as follows, viz. 

(1) The colonies of the nation of Gomer, called Cimmerii or 
Celts, passing by the north of the Euxtne, where they first 
made settlements, and penetrated into Sweden, Germany, 
France, and the British Isles. 

(2) The colonies of Tarshish settled Tartessua in Spain. 

(3) The colonies of Cittim settled Cyprus and part of JWff- 
cedonia and Ita/i'. 

(4) The colonies of El'ishah settled the neighbouring 
islands of the Euxine sea and part of Greece. 

(5) The colonies of Dodanim settled in JHessenia, Doi-i's^ 
and Dodona in Greece, and tiie island of Rhodes. 

(6) The colonies of Mosoch settled in Moscovi/ in Russia. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



37S 



THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 



If. Land of Shbm. 

1. Aram. 
a.Uz. 

b. Uul. 

c. Mash. 

d. Geter. 

2. Asshur. 

3. Elam. 

4. Arphaxad.* 

5. Lud. 

UI. Land of Ham. 
1. Cush.f 
3. Mizraim. 

a. Ludim. 

b. Anamim. 

c. Lehabim. 

d. Naphtuliim. 

e. Pathrusim. 
/ Casluhim.t 
_§-. Caphtorim. 

3. Phut. 

4. Canaan. 



II. The South of Asia. 

1. Syria, Armenia, &c. tIz. 

a. Western part of Syria. 

b. Armenia Major, partly. 

c. Mesopotamia, partly. 

d. Eastern part of Syria. 

2. Assyria. 

3. Susiana or Persia, partly. 

4. Babylonia and Chaldea. 

5. (Uncertain.) 

in. Africa, and Arabia, &c. 

1. Arabia. 

2. Egypt, Ethiopia, &c. viz. 

a. Ethiopia. 

b. Lybia, partly. 
0. Lybia, partly. 

d. Marmarica. 

e. Thebais. 

/. 7 Near the Isthmus of 
ff. 3 Suez. 

3. Mauritania. 
3. Palestine. 



Remarki 



The sacred historian, having informed us how the 
World was depopulated by the flood, proceeds to inform 
us next, how it was repeopled by the posterity of Noah; 



(7) The colonies of Tubal, called Iberiaiis, or Celt-iberia7is, 
■siittled on the river Iberus or Ebro in Spain. 

(8) The colonies of jNIagog settled about the river Tanais 
and the Palus JVlxotis. 

(9) The colonies of Madai were the Sarmatians in Russia. 

(10) The colonies of Tiras .settled about the i-iver Tiras or- 
leister, on tlie north of the Euxine sea. 

* Several colonies of the descendants of Arphaxad settled 
Jndia,- and at a subsequent period others came to the land of 
Canaan. 

f JVlmrod, the last son of Cush, seized upon the land of^r- 
phaxad. The descendants of the other sons of Cush sent co- 
lonies from Arabia to Ethiopia. 

i The Philistines, the descendants of Casluhim, seized on 
a part of the Imid of Ca7iaaa. 



5U SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

which he does by acquainting us, after what method the 
three branches of Noah's family settled themselves at 
first, in three distinct tracts of the eartb. From the 
text of the sacred historian it may be well inferred, as 
the learned Mr. Mede has observed, that this great di- 
vision and plantation of the earth was performed in an 
orderly manner, and was not a confused and irregular 
dispersion, wherein every one went whither he listed, 
and seated himself as he liked best. An orderly sorting 
is plainly denoted by the expressions used in the sacred 
text, viz. " after their families, after their tongues, in 
their lands, in their nations." The reader is referred 
to the article Noah, under the second table of the In- 
troduction, for the most probable conjecture as to the 
respective numbers oi nations and languages sX the lime 
of their dispersion and division, 

Moses tells us that it was in the days of Peleg, son of 
Heber, that the earth was divided among the sons of 
Noah; which, supposing it were at the time of his birth, 
as his name signifies divisio?i in the Hebrew language, 
Would make it one hundred years after the flood. Why 
he begins his account of the descendants of Noah 
with the sons of Japhet is uncertain. Had he shown 
auy regard therein to seniority of birth, those of Shem 
and Ham had both claimed the precedence. — He says 
that among the descendants of Japhet were divided 
t/ie Isles of the Gentiles. But we are not to understand 
the term isles in its literal sense. In the acceptation of 
the old Testament, isles or islanders applied to any 
country or people beyond sea in relation to Egypt, where 
it was chiefly written. Accordingly we shall see forth- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 375 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

Mith that the Isles of (he Gentiles consisted chiefly of 
Asia Minor with part of the islands and country con- 
tiguous. — Gomer and his three sons settled the northern 
parts of Asia Minor, on the coast of the Euxine or Black 
Sea. JslikenaZj the first son of Gomer mentioned by 
Moses, took the western part of the nation of Gomer, 
corresponding with the ancient Troas, or Phrijgia and 
Bithynia. From him the Euxine was called the sea of 
Aahkevazy and afterwards Pontus jixenus., as was the 
^scanian bay in Billiynia^ and the Ascanian isles on the 
coast. There was likewise a river and a lake of the 
same name, and afterwards a city and a province called 
Jscania in this country: nor is it unlikely that in honour 
of Ashkenaz^ the kings and great men of those parts 
took the name of Ascanius; as Ascanins the son of AE.ne- 
as, and a king of that name who came to the assistance 
of Priajn at the siege of Troy, according to Homer. — 
Pifi/iat, the second son of Gomer, seated his family ad- 
joining to that of Ashkenaz, on the east, corresponding 
somewhat to ancient Pafihlagonia. This opinion is con- 
firmed by the testimony of Josephus, who expressly 
says, that the Pafihlagonians were originally called Ri- 
jihateana^ from Pijihat. There are also some remain- 
ders of his name to be found here among the writings 
of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Finally, Mr. Mede 
is of opinion that a river in this tract, called by the 
Greeks Parthaneus., was originally called Riphathaneiis. 
— The third and last son of Gomer, named by Moses is 
Togarinah, whose family was seated in the remainder, 
and consequently in the most easterly part of the nation 
of Gomer; nearly corresponding with the tract subse- 



376 SACREl) GEOGRAPHY. 

THE PLVNTATION OF THE EARTH. 

quently known to be Cafi/iadocia and Pontus. This lo- 
cation of the faniily of Togarmah is agreeable both to sa- 
cred and profane writers. And the name of Togarmah 
is discernible in that of the Trocmi, a people who, ac- 
cording to Strabo, dwelt in the confines of Pontus and 
Capfiadocia, and who were also called by Cicero, Trog- 
mi; and in the council of Calcedon, Trogmades. — Having 
thus given a brief view of the plantation of the nation of 
Gomer^ we might here dismiss that part of our subject: 
but for the satisfaction of the inquisitive student, we 
•will press it a little further, and shew how the colonies 
of their descendants, in process of time, settled Norway, 
Sweden, Germany, Fratice, and the British Isles, by 
way of correcting a small inaccuracy in the compilers 
qS. \.\\& first ages of the world in Wilkinson's Atlas Clas- 
sica, who attribute the plantation of those countries to 
Gomer and his three sons direct. Explicitly to our pur- 
pose is the authority of Herodotus, who tells us that a 
people called Cimmerii, formerly dwelt in this very tract 
of the Lesser Asia, which we have assigned to Gomer: 
and that these people sent a colony to the shores of the 
Palus Maotis on the north of the Euxine Sea, where 
they gave the name of Bosfihorus Cimmerius to the 
strait which connects that lake with the Euxine. This 
colony of the Cimmerii becoming very numerous, in 
process of time, spread themselves to the north" and 
west, over the countries above mentioned. And, to no- 
tice it by the way, this migration of the Cimmerii cor- 
responds in many respects with the course pursued by 
their successors, the Scijthiansf who, during the lapse 
of many ages, overran and repeopled these very coun- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY, 377 

THB PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

r 

tries; having almost exterminated the aboriginal Celts 
or Cimmerii in their progress, as we have shown, in 
treating of the origin and migration of ancient nations, 
in the Introduction to Part I. As for the testimony of 
the ancients, Diodorus Siculus affirms that the ancient 
Germans, or Celts, had their original from the Cimmeri- 
aiis; and the Jevi's to this day, as Mr. Mede observes, 
call them Ashkenazim, as being derived from Ashkenaz. 
Indeed, they retain evident marks of their descent, both 
in the name oiCimbri, and lliat of Germans; the former of 
which they communicated to the peninsula of Jutland, 
in that of Cimbrica C/iersouesus. Moreover that they 
spread into Gaul or France, is proved by Camden, who 
quotes the testimony of Josephus, where he says that 
those called by the Greeks Galata, were originally call- 
ed Gomerites. They also sent colonies into the British 
Isles, if etymology of names afford any confirmation to 
the testimony of ancient writers; for the Welch to this 
day call themselves Xumeri, and we have se'en in the 
Introduction to Part I, that a few of the aboriginal Celts, 
Cimbri, or Kumeri, maintained their possessions in 
Wales in defiance of their enemies the Scyildans, who 
had followed their footsteps from Asia, and almost ex- 
terminated them from every part of Europe. 

As the nation of Gomer first settled in the northern 
parts of Asia Minor, so did that oi Javan first seat itself 
in the southern parts of the same. This appears evi- 
dent not only from the name of a country in this 
tract called Jonia or Ionia, which is derived from Ja- 
van, but also from the situation of the families of his 
four sons within this tract, as we shall now see.— His 



378 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

son Tarshish seated his family in the eastern part of the 
southern tract of Lesser Asia, nearly corresponding- 
with Cilicia: for Tarsus the chief town of Cilicia, bears 
evident marks of the name of TarsMsh, to whose honour 
it was so called. Josephus expressly affirms that not only 
this city was so called from Tarshiah, but also that Ci- 
licia, or the country around it, was originally known by 
the name of Tarshish. Nor is it to be doubted that this 
•was the Tarshish to which the prophet Jonas thought to 
Jleefrom the face of the Lord; as also was it the Tar- 
shish mentioned so often by the prophets on account ol 
its trading with Tyre. — The portion west of the family 
of Tarshishf appertained to the family of Kitiim or Cit- 
dm; which vTord, having a plural termination, implies 
the descendants oi Keth or Ceth. Ptolemy tells us of a 
country here called Cctis, and Homer mentions a peo- 
ple called Cetri. It is also remarkable that the seven- 
ty interpreters render Kittim by Ketii or Cetii exactly 
agreeable to the name mentioned by Homer. Josephus 
will have the isle of Cyjirus to have been the seat of the 
Cittim: but it is not to be doubted that the continent 
■was peopled first, though it is quite probable they sent 
colonies thither in the course of time. — Elishah settled 
his family in that part of this southern tract, which cor- 
responds with jEoHa, on the western coast of Asia Mi- 
nor. And as the JEolians carry some marks of their 
origin in their name, Josephus expressly affirms that 
they derived both their name and descent from Eli' 
shah. — The family of Dodanim occupied the remainder 
of the western part of Asia Minor, south of Elishah) 
partly corresponding with a country that here occurs in 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 379 

'' ■^'•■■' '■■■■■' '. , ' ■■ ■ I 1*^ 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

ancient writers, under the name of Doris, which may, 
not improbably, be derived from Dodanim, Hence co- 
lonies might have passed over to the island of Hhodee, 
which some affirm to have derived its name from Do- 
danim, otherwise called Rhodanim; which seems to be 
the opinion of the seventy interfireters, from their ren- 
dering the Hebrew word by Rhodii. Some have been 
so extravagant as to suppose that the first settlement of 
the Dodanim was as far as Gaul upon the river Rhoda- 
nus qr Rhone. Others have placed it not so farj name- 
ly, on the western coast of Greece, in Dodona, where a 
grove of oaks sacred to Jupiter, was famous for the ora- 
cles there given, in the earliest ages. But either of 
these conjectures are out of the sphere of probability.— 
Having thus shown where the nation of Javan, consist- 
ing of the families of his four sons, were first seated, 
it remains for me to say something of the colonies 
which, in process of time, migrated from them. As 
the families of Elishah and Dodanim inhabited the west- 
ern part of Asia Minor, they gradually colonized the 
islands in the adjoining sea between Asia and Europe, 
and at length spread themselves into the European con- 
tinent. The family of Elishahy in particular, seem to 
have possessed themselves of the most considerable of 
those islands in the £gean sea, inasmuch as they are 
called by the prophet Ezekiel the isles of Elishah. And 
what the prophet says of the blue and fiurfile from the 
isles of Elishah, is very applicable to the islands of this 
sea, as they did abound in that commodity. It is also 
probable that this sea itself viras called the sea of Elishah; 
L 1 



380 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

which name, though it wore away in other parts, has 
continued even to the present day, to distinguish the 
Hellespont, as if one would say Eliza Fontus, i. e. the 
sea of Elishah. In passing over to the continent of Eu- 
rope, their name suffered a slight alteration in that of 
Hellenes: and the country they seized upon was called 
Hellas^ a name which, in process of time, became com- 
mon to all Greece. We might cite many other ves- 
tiges of this name, of which suffice it to mention the 
city and province of Elis in the Pelofionneausy the ci- 
ty of Eleusis in Attica^ and the river Elissua in the 
same province. vSome authors even ihink that the Cum- 
pi Elizii, or Elijsian yields') so celebrated among the 
Greek fables, derived their name from Elishah. — As to 
the colonies of the Dodanim^ or Dorians, it is well known 
that the Sfiartans or Lacedemonians considered them- 
selves to be of Doric extraction. There was also a town 
in the province of Messene, not far from Sparta, called 
Dorion: and beyond the isthmus of the Peloponnesus, 
there was a considerable tract called Doria, Dorica, or 
Doris; to say nothing about Dodona, which we have al- 
ready mentioned, still more remote on the north-west- 
ern coast of Greece. In a word, all the Greek nation 
is sometimes denoted by ancient authors under the 
name of Dores. — We have already remarked that the 
family of Kittim or Citrim, lying between that of Tar* 
shinh on the east, and Dodanim on the west, being ex- 
posed lo the sea on the south, probably sent their first 
coienies to the neighbouring island of Cyprus. But af- 
ierw;irds, extending iheir views further, and finding the 
kwef part of Greece already inhabited by the desccn- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 381 



THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 



dants of Elishah and Dodanim^ they proceeded on, coast- 
wise, along the western shores of Greece, till they came 
to the upper, or northern parts of it, where some of 
them planted themselves, while others passed over the 
• idriatic sea, and settled the opposite coasts of Italy. 
Hence, probably, it comes to pass that both Macedonia 
in Greece, and Italy, are denominated by the name of 
Cittim in scripture. In the book of Maccabees, it is said 
that Alexander, the son of Philiji the Macedonian, came 
',ut of Chetteini; and there are authors who expressly 
say ihiit the Romans or Latins had their extraction from 
the Citii or Cetii, as Eusebius, Suidas, and others, whose 
testimonies are produced by the learned Bochart.— 
Whithersoever else the descendants of Tarshish may 
have migrated, it is highly probable that Tartessus, a 
city and adjoining country, upon a river of the same 
name in Spain, much celebrated by the ancients for a 
great profusion of precious metals and other riches, was 
a colony of that family. For, besides the easy transition 
of the name, Polybius, in reciting the words of a league 
iriade between the Romans and Carthaginians, mentions 
a place named Tarseium, which Stephanus expressly 
says was a city in Spain near the /lillara of Hercules. As 
Tartessus was celebrated among the ancients for the 
multitude of its riches, abounding in mines of silver, 
tin, lead, &c. with which the inhabitants traded in the 
■fairs of Tyre, according to the prophet Ezekiel, the 
Greek poets derived from it the celebrated fable of the 
flits of Tartarus, where the wicked were condemned to 
labour, and to various modes of torture. We may add, 
tisal in consequence of the immense trade carried on 



382 SACRED GEOGllAPHY. 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

between the merchants of I'artessus ar\d the Pheincians^ 
&c. the whole Mediterranean sea, through which it 
passed, was called the sea of Tarshish: and hence, ships 
of the same character constructed by Solomon in the 
red sea, to carry on his trade with Ophir in the East In- 
dies, for gold and silver, and other precious commo- 
dities, were called a navy of Tarshish. Finally, the se- 
ven(y interpreters must have been possessed of an opi- 
nion that this country was settled by the family uf Tar- 
shish^ as they have rendered Tarshish sometimes by 
Carthage and sometimes by Carthaginians, by which they 
could only have meant those of Spain, where they had a 
Carthago JVova in their timej for they could not have 
meant the Carthage or Carthaginians in Africa, who, as 
is known to all, both ancient and modern, v\ crc u colony 
of Tyre. 

We will return now to Asia Minor, where we left 
the original settlement of the nations of Gomer and Ja- 
van; and passing a little to the east of this tract, we 
shall here find those of Meshech and Tubal, which we 
speak of in connexion, because they are so mentioned 
by Moses and elsewhere in scripture. The nation of 
Meshech, then, joined that of Gomer on the east, partly 
in Cappadocia and Armenia; where the seventy inter- 
preters rendered them by the name of Mosoch, and 
hence it is very probable that they were the descendants 
of those whom the Greeks called Moschi, in a province 
of these parts which they called Moschia.—~To the north 
oi Meshech, in Iberia, adjoined the first plantation of 
Tubal; who is affirmed by Josephus to have been the fa- 
ther of the Asiatic Iberians; adding that those whom 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 383 

THE PLANTATION OF THK EARTH. 

the Greeks palled Iberia were originally called Theobeli^ 
from Tubal. And M. Bochart supposes the Tiborenh 
a people mentioned by ancient authors in this tract, 
were so called from Tubal. — That Meshech and Tubal 
did originally seat themselves in the tract we have as- 
signed them, is put beyond a doubt by what Ezekicl 
says of those two nations, viz. Tubal and Meshech^ they 
•were thy merchants: they traded in slaves and vessels of 
brass in thy markets: all of which "Agrees to exactness 
with this country, so remarkable formerly, according to 
the testimony of heathen writers, for slaves as well as 
brass of excellent quality. And, as M. Bochart observes 
that the Hebrew word translated brass is sometimes 
rendered steel, (bj-ass and iron being also called in the 
Arabic tongue tubal, as coming out of the country of 
Tubal) it is likely that the Greeks hence denominated 
some of the inhabitants of this counti'y C/ialybes, which 
in their language signifies steel. — It only remains to say 
in regard to the colonies of Tubal, that as the Spaniards 
have a tradition that they are descended from Tubal., it 
can be understood only in this sense, that they are a co- 
lony of the Asiatic Iberi. This tradition is rendered 
probable by the ancient name of the Spaniards, who 
were known to the ancient Greeks, only by that of Iberi i 
but to distinguish them from the Asiatic Iberi, they 
came afterwards to be called Cclt-Iberi, ox Celiiberians. 
There is still a remainder of this name preserved in that 
of a river in Spain, called to this day the Ebro, and for- 
merly by the Greeks and Romans, the /Aeri/s.— That 
the Moscovites, or MuscoNites, in European Russiaj 
L 1 3 



384 SACRED GEOGRAPHY, 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

were a colony originally of Meshech or Mosoch, called 
by the Greeks Moschi, is very probable, not only on ac- 
count of the similarity of names, but of the respective 
situation of the Eurofiean and Asiatic Moschi to one an- 
other. 

Magog is, by the testimony of Josephus, Eustathi- 
us, St. Jerom, and Theodoret, and as Mr. Mede ex- 
presses it, by the consent of all men, placed north of 
Tubal, and esteemed the father of the Scythians that 
dwelt on the east and north-east of the Euxine sea. 
This situation is confirmed by the scripture itself, Ezek. 
38. 2. Set thy face against Gog, in the land of Magog, 
the firince of Eosh Meshech and Tubal: hence we learn 
that the land of Magog must be near to that of Meshech 
and Tubal, for there was no other vacancy than on the 
north. And the name of Gog was preserved entire in 
that of Gogarene, whereby was formerly denoted a coun- 
try in those parts; as we learn from Strabo and Stepha- 
nus, a name that may have easily been changed to Geor- 
gia, by which a considerable tract is known at this day 
in the same quarter. Indeed Pliny expressly reckons 
the Georgi among the nations about the Caspian sea> 
which name may have been a corruption of Gorgareni, 
Of the colonies of Magog, we have only to say, that in 
the panegyric of Tibullus to Messala, mention is made 
by the poet of a people about the river Tanais called 
Magini, which carries a great affinity to Magog. Thus 
the Magini, in all probability were descendants o{ Ma- 
gog, and came at length, in search of fertile settlements, 
to the river Tanais. Indeed \.\\& palus. Mxotis into which 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

the Tunais runs, is supposed to have taken its name 
from Magog. 

The Mccles, so often mentioned in scripture with the 
■Persians, to whom they were neighbours, have been al- 
most universally looked upon as descendants of Madai, 
to whom the same opinions have assigned the country 
called Media, south of the Casfiian sea, for the settle- 
ment of his family. And this is put beyond dispute by 
the scripture itself, which uniformly denotes the Medes 
by the name of Aladai, in the Hebrew text. That Me- 
dia should be somewhat out of the reasonable bounds of 
(/le isles_ of the Gentiles, allotted to the descendants of 
Jajihet, can be no objection to so plain a matter of fact. 
—As for the colonies ol Madai, M. Bochart is of opi- 
nion that the Sarinatians are to be looked upon in that 
relation. He conjectures that the name of Sarmatians 
was originally Sa7--Madai, which, in the oriental langua- 
ges, denoles fioslerity of the Medes. 

Tiras, or Thiras, the last son of Japhet, is by univer- 
sal agreement, esteemed to be the father of the Thru- 
cians, so called from him by a little change in the pri- 
mitive word. And the same is confirmed by the many 
traces of this name that were afterwards to be found at- 
tached to cities, bays, and rivers, in this country accord- 
ing to ancient writers. They also inform us that one of 
the names of Mars, the god of the Thracians, was Thu- 
ras which the seventy interpreters rendered Thiras — 
There is no doubt that some of the colonies of Tiras 
planted themselves in the country over against Thrace 
on the north of the Euxine sea; where there is a consi- 
derable river which entirely preserves the memory of 



386 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

the father of the Thracians, in the name of Tiras, now 
called Niester. There was also a city of the same 
name upon tliis river. 

Before we take leave of the subject of Jafihet's de- 
scendants, it will be proper to notice Dr. Wells's ob- 
jection to the above account of the first settlements of 
the families of Tims and Maidai. He thinks that Media 
and Thrace were loo remote from the oiiginal settle- 
menis of the rest oi Ja/i/iet^s sons; ever to have been in 
the immediate possession of jlfac/aj and Tiraa. Therefore 
he thinks it most probable that they settled originally in 
Asia Minor; and, on account of some similarity be- 
tween the names of Tiraa and Troas, Madai and Mcesi, 
that they were the ancestors of the ancient Trojans and 
Mxsians; adding that the colonies of Tiraa and Madai 
might nevertheless have passed the Hellesfiont^ and set- 
tled in Thrace and Macedonia:' {ov he supposes with Mr. 
Mede, that that Madai., who is spoken of in scripture as 
the progenitor of the Medes, was some descendant of 
S'hem. AVhat weight these conjectures ought to have, 
against opinions acknowledged to be so long established 
and universal, we need not determine. 

The plantations of the sons of Shem are next in geo- 
graphical order to those of Jafihet, being in jisia, on the 
east and south of the nation of Gamer. Moses mentions 
live immediate sons of Shem, namely Elam, Jshur, jir- 
jihaxad, Lud, and jiram: and of these he acquaints us 
with only the sons of Arfihaxad and Aram, 

The portion that fell to the nation oi Aram, lay in A?-- 
menia, Meaofiotamia, and Syria. It is probable that Ar 



SACRED GEOGRAPHt. 387 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

tnenia took its name from ^ram. As Mesofiotamia, 
which lies between the Tigris and Etifihrates, sigiiifies 
in Greek, a country between two rivers, so it was called 
by the Hebrews Aravi'A''aharaimf or Aram betivecn the 
two rivers: and as that part of this country which lay 
next to Arinenia was very fruitful, while the southern 
or lower part, next to Arabia Deserta was very barren, 
the former was peculiarly distinguished in scripture by 
Padan-Aramy or Sedan-Aram, that is to say, fruitful or 
cultivated Aram. — The family of C/z, the first son of 
Aram, are said by most of the ancients to have been the 
builders of the city ol Damascus; hence it is reasonable 
to suppose that the land of Uz, mentioned in scripture, 
denoted the country about Damascus, and even as far as 
to comprehend a part of Arabia Deserta, and to touch 
upon Arabia Petra, so that what is said in scripture 
about Job's living in the land of Uz, may be applicable 
to a part of this country so denominated from Uz, the 
son oi Aram: for there can be no need of making two 
other distinct lands of Uz, one from Uz the son of 
JSfahor, the other from Uz a descendant of Edom.'—ThQ 
family of Hul is, with great probability, placed in the 
greater Armenia. And between Hul on the north, and 
Uz on the south, their brother Mash seated himself 
in Mesopotamia, about ihe mountain Masius, which is 
thought to have taken its name from him. — But it is 
uncertain where Geter seated his family, lest it were in 
the north-eastern part of Syria, bordering upon ArmC" 
nia, where a country is observed to have been caileij 
Getras, in Violtmj. 



3S8 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

The nation oi Ashur lay east of the nation of jira?n, 
and is universally esteemed to be Assyria^ so called from 
the father of that nation. But Assyria^ as it is here un- 
derstood, of which jYineveh was tlie capital, lay entirely 
east of the Tig-ris. 

The nation of Elam was also sealed beyond the Eu' 
fihrates and Tigris, and south oi Aashur^ in Stiaiana and 
part of Persia; for the inhabitants of this tract are plain- 
ly and frequently denoted by the name of Elam, both in 
scripture and in lieatiien writers. Pliny and Ptolemy 
iiicntion a country called Elymais on the Persian gulf; 
and Daniel the propliet speaks of Shusftati, the chief ci- 
ty of Susiana, as lying in the province oi Elam. 

The lot assigned to Arfihaxad, by the learned, was 
on the Tigris and Eufihrates, comprehending the tower 
of Babel on the north, and the original site of the ter- 
restrial Paradise on the south. It corresponded in part 
with the land of Shinar, Babylonia, and Chaldea. Were 
a citation of probabilities necessary to confirm or 
strengthen the best testimony, in fayour of the valley of 
SJiinar or the country of Eden being part of the first 
plantation of Arphaxad, the progenitor of the Jr.wish 
nation through his son Heber, we might add, 1st, that 
it was to this country Noah returned and settled after 
the flood, till the building of the tower therein occasion- 
ed the dispersion of mankind: 2d, that at the dispersion 
of mankind and confusion of languages, the primitive 
Hebrew tongue was preserved in the family of .-fr/iAa.r- 
ad, which would reasonably imply that they still conti- 
nued in the same parts with their grandsires JVoah and 
Shem. The colonies of ^r^Aa-raf/, descended from his 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 389 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

son Heber, in process of time, went hence to the east 
and the west. Jocktan^ son of Heber^ and his sons, set- 
tled the East-Indies.^ viz. Sheba settled Hindoostan or 
India; Havilah settled Thibet; and Ophir settled the 
Molucca isles and Ceylon. Terah (a descendant oi Pe- 
leg, the son of Heber^ who remained in Chaldea) mi- 
grated with his family westwards to Canaan: for thus 
we see it in, Genesis 11. 31. And Terah took Abram his 
son — and went forth with them — -from Ur of the Chal' 
dees, to go into the land of Canaan. Upon this colony, 
their various branchings, and the nation with which 
they have connexion, it will be the province of the Sa- 
cred Geography to dwell more particularly, in the se- 
quel. 

Oi Lud, and his descendants, Dr. Wells says there is 
nothing certain, but that they did not setlle in the coun- 
try of Lesser Asia, called Lydia. 

Ham, the youngest of the three sons of JSfoah, had 
four sons, viz, Cush, Mizraim, Phut, and Canaan. 
Though we find Egypt twice or thrice denominated the 
Land of Ham, in the book oi Psalms, yet Africa even 
was not all that fell to his descendants at the partition 
of the earth; as all the Land of Promise and the conti- 
guous parts oi Arabia were included in their posses- 
sions, to say nothing of his grandson JVimrod's acquisi- 
tion oi Assyria by conquest from the descendunts oi As' 
shur. There is no doubt that the personage denoted by 
the Greeks under the name o{ Jupiter Amnion, to whose 
honour a temple celebrated for its oracles was erected 
in the part of Lybia adjoining Egypt, was no other thcin 



390 SACRED GEOGBAPin^ 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

Ham, who had settled in Egypt with his son Mizraim, 
as we shall see — It is well known that the nation of 
Canaan settled in that part of Asia at the eastern extre- 
mity of the Mediterranean called Palestine, so often 
mentioned in scripture under the name oi Land of Ca- 
naan, which God afterwards gave to the Israelites, the 
seed of Abraham. We shall speak more fully of the 
Land of Cano.an on a future occasion. — The nation of 
Cush is likewise frequently mentioned in scripture; and 
in such a manner as to show clearly that its first settle- 
ment was in the country adjoining Canaan on the south, 
that is in Arabia. That Ethiopia in Africa was not the 
/and of Cush, is manifest from a passage in Ezekiel, 29, 
13, where God makes his prophet say— I will make the 
la7id of Egypt desolate from the tower of Syrene even un- 
to the borders of Cush; which would plainly mean from 
one extremity of that land to the other. And all geo- 
graphers know that Syrene was the southern boundary 
of Egypt towards Ethiopia, consequently the other ex- 
tremity was towards the isthmus of Suez, or Cuch in 
Arabia. It is nevertheless probable that Cush may have 
been the ancestor of the Ethiopians, as the Cushites may 
have passed down the red sea, and crossed into Africa, 
and settled colonies in E.thiopia. — Of the descendants of 
Cush, Moses mentions Seba, Havilah, Sabtah, Sabtecha, 
Raamah, and two sons Sheba and Dedan; and then adds, 
that Cush begat A^imrod, ivho began to be a mighty one 
■upon the earth; — all of whom settled in .-Arabia, except 
JVimrod, who invaded Assyria and founded Babylon, 
where the tower of Babel had been begun. The king- 
dom of A''imrod, and the neighbouring countries, distin- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 391 

THE PLANTATION OF THE EARTH. 

guished as the east countries, where the progenitors of 
the Jewish nation dwelt till the calling of Abraham 
to the land of Canaan, shall be treated of in the follow- 
ing table. — We proceed now to speak of Mizraiin, the 
second son oi Ham: and his settlement was evidently in 
Egypt, as the Hebrew text generally denotes that coun- 
try by the Land of Mizraim or simply Mizraim. The 
descendants of Mizraim are thus enumerated by Moses: 
Mizraipi begat Ludim^ and Anamim, and Lehabim, and 
Naphtuhim^ and Pathrusim, and Casluhim (/rom whom 
carne Phiiistim) and Cafihtorim — Ludim, according to 
the probable conjecture of the learned, settled in Ethi- 
ofiia; for the Ethiopians are denoted in scripture by the 
name of Ludim, and their country by that of L-ud, as 
Bochart proves at large. — The same learned author 
thinks it clearly inferrable from Herodotus that Ana- 
■mim settled the country about the temple of Jupiter- 
Ammon in Lybia. — Lybia., however, derives its name 
from Lehabim, who settled in the country of Cyrenaica, 
to which it was confined; though the Greeks afterwards 
extended it to the whole continent of Africa, being the 
nearest point of the same laying over against them, as 
did the Romans in regard to the province of Africa, for 
the like reason: just so has the name of Holland been 
extended by the English to all the Dutch provinces, be- 
cause the particular province of that name lay nearest 
to England. — M. Bochart places A''aphtuhim in Marmo- 
rica adjoining Cyrenaica towards Egypt. And in this 
quarter we find a great many remains of the name of 

Naphtuhim. The Pathrusim^ or descendants of Pa- 

M m 



392 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



THE PLANTATION OP THE EARTH. 



throst settled in upper Egypt, or Thebais^ where Ptole- 
lyiy places Patheras, an inland town not far from Thebes. 
And agreeably thereto the sefituagint renders the He- 
brew Pathroa by the Greek Pathyris. — The Casluhtm 
are supposed to have settled Casiotis, the country about 
the borders of Egypt and Arabia, where a mountain was 
also called Casius, both which names retain somewhat 
that of Caslu/dm. This location is rendered still more 
probable, since Moses says from them sprang the P/d' 
liatines; who, in process of time made themselves mas- 
ters of the adjoining part of the land of Canaan.— The 
Cafihtorim were situated near the Casluhim^ and must 
have intermixed with them, as the Philistines, who are 
expressly said to be descendants of the Casluhtm^ are- 
sometimes called Cafihtorim; Deut. 2. 23. Jet: 4,7. 4, 
and ./imos 2. 7. The name of Cafihtorim is preserved in 
an old city in this part of Egypt called Cofitus, from 
which it is probable the common name of Egypt is de- 
rived: of this opinion is Mr. Mede and many of the 
learned. 

The settlement ofPhut is supposed to have been west- 
ward of the descendant of Mizraim, that is west of Cy- 
renaica, and to have spread into Mauritania: for in 
Africa proper .1 below Adrumentum was a city called Pu- 
tea mentioned by Pliny; and in Mauritania there was a 
river mentioned by Ptolemy called Phut. Si. Jerom 
says there was a river in his own time in Mauritania 
called Phut, and the adjacent country Regio Phitensis, 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



393 



THE EAST COUNTRIES. 



TABLE IV. 

THE EAST COUNTRIES, 

From the time of JVimrod till the calling of Abraham 
thence to Canaari. 



Ancient. 

1. The Kingdom of Nimrod. 

a. Babylon, 
6. Erech, 
c. Accad, 
(/. Calneh, 

<?. Nineveh, or Nineve, 
/. Rehoboth, 
g-. Halah, Calash, 
h. Resen, 
3. Chaldea, 
a. Ur. 

(a.) Havan, 

2. Paras, or Persia, 

a. Shusham,Cuthain, orCuthj 



Modern . 
Shinar, Assyria, Babylonia, 
Chaldea, &c. 

a. Babil. 

b. Wasit, formerly Aracca. 

c. Karkuf, formerly Sltace. 
</. Al-Modain. 

e. Nina, formerly Ninus. 
/ El-Bir, formerly Birtha. 
J-. (East of Resen.) 
h. Larissa, of Xenophon. 
Part of Shinar, now Irak, 
a. Ur (whence Abraham was 

called to Haran.) 
(a.) (whence Abraham was ~ 

called to Canaan.) 
2. Nod, Elam, or Susiana. 
:. Suster, formerly Susa. 



lie?narks. 
Moses having named the other sons and grandsons of 
Ciish, to whom nearly all Arabia was allotted at the 
plantation after the flood, as above stated, subjoins, that 
Cash begat jVimrod, tvho began to be a mighty one upon 
the earth. Indeed he was so well skilled in hunting and 
warfare, that he became proverbial for valour and 
strength. The occasion of his applying himself to hunt- 
ing is conjectured to be in order to destroy the wild 
beasts that began then to grow very numerous and to in- 
fest the nation of Cush — the deserts o£ Arabia being a 
convenient harbour for them. Having by degrees be- 
come a great master in hunting and destroying the beasts 



394 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE EAST COUNTRIES. 

of prey, he not only ingratiated himself with his com- 
panions, and the inhabitants of the neighbouring coun- 
tries, but inured them, like himself, to undergo fatigues 
and hardships, and to manage dexterously offensive 
. weapons of various kinds. Being thus trained to hosti- 
lities with beasts of prey, and at length perceiving his 
skill and strength sufficient to act offensively even 
against mankind, he invaded first, the neighbouring 
parts of the nation of Shem, which had fallen to the fa- 
mily of ^rfihaxad, and made himself master of the low- 
er part of the Land of Shinar. The extraordinary fruit- 
fulness and pleasantness of this tract, might have indu- 
ced JVimrod to invade it, in preference to any other part 
of the nation of Shem. 

Having conquered, the southern parts of the land of 
Shinar^ he pitched upon the very spot where the city 
and tower oi Babel had been begun, to rear the metro- 
polis of his kingdom, which was therefore called Babcl^ 
and by the Greeks and Romans Babylon. Though we 
have spoken of this city in the foregoing part of this 
work, it is proper to give a fuller account of it here. It 
stood, as has been said, on each side of the Euphrates-, 
having streets running north and south parallel with the 
liver, and others crossing these from east to west. The 
circumference of the Wall of this great city was 355 
furlongs, that is, about forty miles; the height of it was 
50 cubits, and the breadth not much less. It is said to 
have been built in one year, by the hands of 200,000 
workmen daily employed upon it. Over the Euphrates 
there was a sumptuous bridge; and at each end of ihe 
bridge, there was a magnificent palace. This metropo- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 395 

THE EAST COUNTRIEa. 

lis was also famous for its fiensile garde^i; so called be- 
cause it seemed, at a distance, to hang in the air, be- 
ing constructed and born to considerable heights from 
the ground, upon square pillars. In this artificial gar- 
den, thus supported by pillars, there are said to have 
grown trees that were eight cubits round the trunk, and 
fifty feet high. There was also in this city a beautiful 
temple, sacred to their idol Belus, who was JVimrod, 
In the middle of this temple was a tower, supposed to 
have been the same which was begun before the confu- 
sion of tongues. — This city was enlarged and beautified 
by Semiramis, the wife of JVinus, son and successor of 
J\'l?7irod. It was finally much increased both in extent 
and beauty by Mebuchadnezzar^ who therefore arrogated 
to himself the whole glory of it. So great and noble a 
iBetropolis was nevertheless doomed to utter ruin after 
giving lustre to many empires. From the Assyrians it 
passed into the hands of the Persians; and from them 
it was wrested by the Macedonians. Some short time 
after the death of Alexander the great, Babylon began 
to decline, chiefly because of the building of Seleucia, 
about forty miles above it, by Seleucus Nicanor; Avho is 
said to have erected this new city, called after himself, 
out of spleen to the Babylonians; and to have drawn 
500,000 persons from Babylon to people it. Thus this 
eitv noi only robtied Babylon of its glory and greatness, 
but in some measure of its name also; being expressly 
called Babiilon by some ancient authors, which has led 
some HHo a mistake concerning the situation of old Ba- 
bylon, As to the several steps by which Babylon decli-;;^ 
M m 2- 



396 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE EAST COUNTRIES. 

tied, Curtius, the historian, tells us, that it was dimi- 
nished one fourth in his time: it was reduced to desola- 
tion in the time of Pliny; and in the days of St. Jerom, 
it was turned into a park, wherein the kings of Persia 
osed to hunt. Ranwolf, a German physician, saw, and 
thus describes the site of this city in 1574. »' By a 
small village, called Eulego or Fiilcgo, on the Euphra- 
tes, is the seat of the old Babylon, a day and a half's 
journey from Bagdat. The lands about it are so dry 
and desolate, that one might justly doubt the fertility of 
it, and the greatness of this city, if the vast ruins still to 
be seen, did not banish all suspicion. There are still 
standing some arches of a bridge on the river; which is 
here half a mile broad and very deep: these arches are 
built of bricks, and are wonderfully compacted. A 
quarter of a mile below the village, in a plain, are the 
fallen ruins of a castle; and beyond that, are the ruins 
of the tower of Babel, half a German mile in circumfe- 
rence, which is now the receptacle of serpents and ve- 
nomous creatures. AH who travel over these plains, 
will find vast numbers of the ruins of very ancient, 
great, and lofty buildings, towers, arches, and such like 
structures, of wonderful architecture. There is only 
one tower, called Daniel's tower, which is still entire 
and inhabitedj from whence may be seen all the ruins 
of this once vast metropolis, which sufficiently demon- 
strate the truth of what ancient writers have said of its 
greatness, by the vastness of their extent." 

VVe proceed now to speak of the other cities of the 
kingdom of Mmrod, mentioned with Babel as lying in 
the land of S/iinar, which are Erec/i, Acchad, and Cal- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 397 



THE EAST COUNTRIES. 



neh. As to Erech, there is no question that it was the 
same which occurs in Ptolemy, under the name oi Arec- 
ca; and which is placed by him at the last, or most sou- 
thern turning of the common channel of the Euphrates 
and Tigris. The fields hereof are mentioned by Tibul- 
lus, on account of their springs o[nafihtfia,yih\ch is a sort 
of liquid bitumen. — The city oi Ac chad in Hebrew, is 
Avritten Archad by the seventy interpreters; whence 
some traces of this name are thought to be preserved in 
that of Argades, a river that runs near Sittace, the name 
by which this city was afterwards called, standing at 
some distance east of the Tigris, and giving name to Si(- 
gace?ie, a country between Bnbijlon and Susa. — Calne or 
Chalneh, otherwise called Chalnoh or Channe, was a con» 
siderable place even in the days of Amos. It is said by 
Eusebius, St. Jerom, and others, to be the same with 
Ctesiphon, standing upon the Tigris., about three miles 
from Seleucia^ and was for some time the capital city of 
the Parthians. That this was the situation of Chalneh, 
is confirmed from the country about Ctesi/ihon being 
even by the Greeks called Chalonitis^ a name plainly de- 
rived from Chalneh. And as we are expressly told by 
Ammianus Marcellinus, that Facorus, a king of the Par- 
!hia?is, changed its name, imposing on it the Greek of 
Ctesi'/ihon, we may reasonably suppose that its old name 
was Chalneh, and that from it the neighbouring coun- 
try took the name of Chalojiitis, which it retained after 
the city had lost its original appellation. 

Thus we have seen what Moses calls " the beginning 
of the kingdom of Nimrod," which was " Babel, and 
Erech, and Archad, and Chalneh, in the land of Shinar.^' 



S9a SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE EAST COUNTRIES. 

But afterwards he extended his kingdom further, and 
" out of the land of S/iinar, he went out into Assyria and 
built Mneve/i, and the city of Rehoboth, and Cala/i, and 
Resen between Nineveh and Calah." 

JSfineveh is so called from Xinus the son of Kimrod^ 
it being a compound of the Hebrew nin-nave, which 
^i^xn^e^ the dwelling ofA''inus. As to the situation of 
this once potent city, there is a great diversity of opi- 
nions concerning it. And perhaps the true one is, that 
the very place where the kings and princes of the An- 
Syrians thence lived in such splendour, is no longer dis- 
cernible: \Vhich verifies the prophecy of JVahum^ 1. 8. 
With an overrunning Jlood he iviU make an utter end 
of the filace thereof. And this is parlicdlarly taken no- 
tice of by Lucian in one of his dialogues, wherein he 
says " A^'inus was so utterly destroyed, that there re- 
mained no footsteps of it, nor could one tell where it 
3tood." However, from the observation of the learned, 
we may infer that there were two cities of this name; 
one on the Eufihrates and the other on the Tigris, which 
last is that mentioned so often in scripture. It is even 
supposed that this Mneveh, in process of time, changed 
its place, inasmuch as Nimrod first built it upon the Ti- 
gris above the mouth of the Lycus; but, being taken 
and destroyed by the Medes, another city arose after- 
wards, at no great distance from the former, below the 
mouth of the I^ycus, out of its ruins, as it were, and bore 
the same name. This conjecture is the more probable, 
as the like has often happened to other cities. The 
greatness of this city even exceeded that of Babylon it- 
self. These are the dimensions of Mnus given by Di- 



SACEEI) GEOGRAPHY. 399 

THE EAST COUNTRIES. 

odoius: in length 150 furlongs, nearly nineteen miles; 
in breadth 90 furlongs, little more than eleven miles; 
and in circumference 480 furlongs or sixty miles: 
which justifies what is said in Jon. 3, 3. that JVineveh 
tvan an exceedinghj great city of three days journey; 
twenty, miles being esteemed in those days, as well as 
by the Greeks and Romans, to be a day's journey. JVi- 
neiieh was also remarkable for its great strength. Its 
walls were a hundred feet high, and so broad that three 
carls might go abreast on the top of them; and along 
these walls were 1500 turrets, each of them 200 feet 
high. With these fortifications, strengthened by an old 
prediction concerning it, which signified that the town 
should never be taken till the river became an enemy 
to it, Mneveh was thought to have been impregnable. 
This induced Sardanapalus to make it the seat of his 
war against Belocus and Arbaces, who having besieged 
it about three years without success, were at last suc- 
coured by an overflowing of the rivei', which carried 
before it twenty furlongs of the wall. This accident so 
terrified the effeminate king, that he burnt himself in 
the midst of his treasures, and left the town to the be- 
siegers. The inhabitants now expecting the fulfiliTient 
oi Jonas' s prediction, escaped destruction by repentance. 
It was afterwards destroyed by Asliages king of the 
Medes, that it might no longer be an encouragement 
to the jissyrians to rebel against him, as they had against 
some of his predecessors. It was out of these ruins, 
that another JVineveh was erected below the confluence 
of the Lyciis with the Tigris., as above mentioned. 
The other cities which were built in these parts by 



400 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE EAST COUNTRIES, 

jYimrod, having suffered nearly the same fate with M' 
?ieve/t, nothing can be said of them which will amount 
lo more than conjecture. Of the name of Rehoboth 
there remain no traces; but there being in these parts 
a city called Blrtha by Ptolemy, denoting streets in the 
Chaldee tongue, the same as Rehoboth in the Hebrew, 
it is conjectured that Rehoboth and Birtba are only dif- 
ferent names for one and tke same city. And it is not 
to be doubted that Birtha of Ptolemy, is the same with 
Verta oi A. Marcellinus, seated on the Tigris not far 
from the Lycus. There is also mention made of a city 
Rehoboth, on the Eiifihrates; but this was at too great a 
distance from .Assyria, to have been built by JYimrod. — 
As we find in Strabo, a country about the head of the 
liver Lycus, called Calacbene, it is very probable that 
this country tookjts name from Calah or Calach, which 
was once the capital city of it. To this city and coun- 
try, it is very probable, that Salmanassar transplanted 
some of the ten tribes oi Israel, as we read in II. Kings, 
17. 6. though the name is there somewhat differently 
spelt. — The last city built by JVimrod was Resen, which 
Moses tells us was between .Mneveh and Calah on the 
Tigris. Though there were two cities in Mesopotamia, 
whose names are sonievvhat similar to that of Reseti, yet 
Larissa mentioned by Xenophon, corresponds best with 
it, both in point of situation and grandeur: for Moses 
says that Resen was a great cityj and Xenophon tells us 
that Larissa was a strong and great city, being eight 
miles in circumference, and having walls 100 feet high 
and 20 broad. But it is probable Xenophon made some 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 401 

THE EAST COUNTRIES. 

alteration in the original name of this city, as Larissa 
is Greek. 

The sacred historian having finished his account of the 
kingdom oi A'lmrod, passes on to the history of Abrahajyi, 
giving a genealogical account of his descent from Shem. 
After this he informs us that T'era/z, taking his son Abra- 
ham with him, and Lot his grandson by Harariy and Sa- 
rah wife of Abraham, left Ur of the Chaldees, to go into 
Canaan; and that having come unto Haran, they sojour- 
ned there. It remains then, in illustrating the subjects 
of the above table, to say something of Chaldea, Ur^ and 
Haran, 

During the interval of several ages from the time of 
Mmrod, till the calling oi Abraham from Ur, the name 
of Chaldea became distinctive of the greater part of the 
above country included in the kingdom of Nimrod, ly- 
ing between Mesojiotamia on the north, Susiaria on the 
east, the Persian gulf on the south, and Arabia Deserta 
on the west. Its capital city was Babylon, on which ac- 
count Isaiah the prophet called it the beauty of the Chal- 
dees excellency. But in process of time the name of 
this metropolis prevailed over all the country of Chal- 
dea in that of Babylonia. Hence Babylonia and Chaldea 
are frequently used reciprocally; and sometimes they 
are reciprocally restrained, one within provincial limits 
to the other. The above boundaries are such as the Greek 
and Roman writers assign to Chaldea; but in the sacred 
■writings it is sometimes taken in a larger sense, so as to 
include the neighbouring parts of Mesofiotamia. This 
is evident from the words of St. Stephen; " 'i"he God of 
glory appeared to our father Abraham when he was in 



402 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE EAST COUNTRIES. 

McHOputamia^ before he dwelt in Charran^ and said unto 
iiim, get thee out of this country'***' Then came he 
out of the land of the Chaldees, and dwelt in Charrany 
Here we see Chaldea and Mesopotamia are used con- 
vertibly. Dr. Well conjectures that Chaldea was deri- 
ved from Chesed, one of the sons of JVahor^ and the sup- 
posed father of astronomy at Ur, where he continued to 
reside after Terah and his family had departed. — That 
the city of Ur was famous for astronomy is evident from 
its name, which signifies lights in honour of that sci- 
ence which cultivates a knowledge of the celestial lu- 
minaries. As to the situation of Ur, it is plain from 
what has been said, that it was in the eastern part of 
Mesofiotamia, included in the name of Chaldea, which 
in all probability was the part about which originated 
the appell<^tion oi Land of the Chaldees. This situation 
of f/r agrees both with the words of St. Stephen, and 
with the writings of A. Marcellinus, who travelled this 
country, and mentions a city of this name lying therein, 
Ijetween the Tigris and the city of Msibis. — Haran, or 
Charran, is conjectured to have been so called by Terah^ 
in memory of his deceased son Haran, the father of Lot. 
It was situated in the west of Mesofiotamia, on a river 
of the same name in the Greek writers, which runs 
first into the Chaboras, and with it into the Euphrates^ 
This place is taken notice of under the name of Charrte 
by Roman writers, on account of a great overthrow there 
given by the Parthians to the Roman army under the 
command of Crassus; who was slain in the battle. To 
this day the name of Haran is preserved on the same 
spot by an inconsiderable village'. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



403 



CANAAN. 



TABLE V. 

CANAAN, OK THE LAND OF PROMISE, 

And the neighbouring country as settled by the fiosterity 
0/ Canaan, till the call oj" Abraham thither from Haran. 



1. Sidonians, 
a. Sidon, 

2. Hittites, 

a. Hebron or Mamre, 

3. Jebusites, 

a. Jerusalem, or Jehus, 

4. Amorites, 

a. Haze-zon-tamar, 

5. Girgashites, 
a. Gergesa? 

6. Hlvites, (in Mount Lebanon,) 
(7). (Canaanites proper,*) 

7. Arkites, 

a. Aree? (near Mt. Libanus), 

8. Sinites, 
a. Sin, 

9. Arvadltes, 
a. Ardus, or Aradus, 

10. Zemarites, 
a. Simyra? 

11. Hamathites, 
a. Hamath, 

(11). (Kadmonites and 
Perizzites,) 



1. From Sidon the first son. 
a. Seide. 

2. From Heth the second son. 
a. Cabr-Ibrahim. 

3. From Jebusite the third son. 
a. Kad-She-if, or Ilia. 

4. From Amorite the fourth son. 
a. (In the hilly country). 

5. From Girgashite the 5th son. 
a. (Unknown.) 

6. From Hivite the sixth son. 
(7) (A mixture of families). 

7 From Arkite the seventh sen. 
a. Arka. 

8. From Sinite the eighth son. 
!. (Near Arka). 

9. Prom Arvadite the ninth son. 
a. Raud. 

10. From Zemarite the 10th son. 
a. Sumira. 

11. From Hamathite 11th son. 
a. Antioch. 

(11). fWere Canaanites of in- 
determinate origin. 



Remarks. 

Upon the dispersion of mankind, the country lying on 

the east and south-east of the Mediterranean sea, fell 

to the share of Canaan, one of the immediate sons of 

Ham, So that he was seated between the nation of 



* These were the remnants in Canaan, of the five following 
nations who were removed out of its original limits by the en- 
croachment of the Philistines. 

N n 



404 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



Aram, an immediate son of Shem, to the north and east; 
and the nation of Cush one of his brothers, to the south 
and south-east; and the nation of Mizratm, another of 
his brothers, to the south-west; his western boundary 
being the Mediterranean sea.— -His descendants are 
thus reckoned by Moses, Gen. 10. 15 — 18. " Canaa7i 
begat Sidon his first born, and Heth, and the Jebusite^ 
and the Amorite, and the Girgas/dte, and the Hivite, and 
the Arkitcy and the Sinite, and the Arvadiie, and the 
Zemerite, and the Hamathite." 

The Canaaniti&h nations took their names from 
these eleven sons of Canaan, from whom they were de- 
scended, respectively. Dr. Wells says it is more than 
probable that all these families were seated originally 
in the true boundaries of Canaan; but in process of time, 
being dispossessed of a considerable portion of their 
patrimony by the Philistines, some of these were obli* 
ged to crowd closer together in the portion that remain- 
ed to their possession, while others were compelled to 
seek their asylum in the neighbouring country. Being 
disturbed in their southern possessions, those who flee 
their country passed its northern limits; and those na- 
tions that we ti)us find beyond the limits of Canaan, are 
the Arkites, the Sinites, the Arvadites, the Zemarites, and 
the Hainathites. We are also informed that a portion 
of each of these nations remaining in Canaan were so 
confusedly mixed as to be no longer' distinguishable, 
and were there denoted collectively by the general ap- 
pellative of Canaanites. The Kadmonites and Ferizzites, 
■ivere also attributed to the common original of the Ca- 
-ftaanites. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 405 



Having premised thus much of the families of the 
Canaanites in general, it is proper now to notice the si- 
tuation of each family in particular; which we shall do 
in the order they are mentioned by Moses. The situa- 
tion then, of Sidon is evidently marked out by the fa- 
mous city of that name. Though Tyre is celebrated by 
the poets for its antiquity, and the Tyrians themselves 
were wont to boast thereof, yet it is notorious that SU 
don was more ancient. In Isaiah, 23. 12. Tyre is ex- 
]n-essly styled the daughter of Sidon; by which is meant 
that the Tyrians were a colony of the Sido?iians. Though 
the Tyrians at length became more considerable than 
the Sidonians, yet it is apparent from profane as well as 
sacred writers that the Sidonians were, in the earlier 
ages of the world, much more considerable than tlie 
Tyrians. Homer never mentions Tyre, but makes fre- 
quent mention of the Sidonians, to whom he gives the 
character of being very ingenious in several arts. — The 
descendants of Het/i are styled in scripture as children 
of Heth, or Hittites. As Sidon planted his family to the 
north of Canaan, Hcth on the other hand took the south- 
ern part about Hebron, for when Sarah died at Hebron, 
" Abraham spoke to the sons of Heth about the pur- 
chase of a burying-place, to which they readily agreed 
— and Abraham stood up and bowed himself to the 
people of the land." — The family of Jebusite was seat- 
ed about Jerusalem, originally called Jebus. I. Chroti, 
1 1. 4. « And David and all Israel went to Jerusalem-^ 
which was Jebus, where the Jebusitcs were the inha- 
bitants of the land." So that the Jebusites adjoined 
the Hittites towards the north.— The Amorites also 



406 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



dwelt in these hilly parts of the land of Canaan, as 
is asserted in Xum. 13. 29. where the men that were 
sent to search put the land, gave this account of it to 
Moses: " The Hittites and the Jebusites, and the Afnor- 
itesy dwelt in the mountains," 8cc. And we are told, 
Gen. 14. 7. " That Cliedorlaomer smole the Amoritcs 
that were in Hazezontamar,^^ \^\\\z\\ was ihe same place 
with Engad<M, seated in the hilly parts of Canaan^ east- 
ward, and towards the Jordan. — The Girgashiles pro- 
bably seated themselves at first along the upper part of 
the river Jordan, For, on the east side of the sea or 
lake of Tiberias^ in the time of Christ, we are told of a 
city called Gerg-esc— The Hiuites settled in the upper 
cr nferthern parts of Canaan, adjoining the Sidoynans, in 
Mount Lebanon — Thus we have recounted the settle- 
ments of those families of Canaan, which are mentioned 
in the sequel of the sacred history, as having continued 
within the original boundaries of the lot of Canaan, 
Though the remaining five sons of Canaan were proba- 
bly seated in the original boundaries of this lot, as we 
Iiave above hinted, and that in all likelihood about the 
south-west corner of it, whence they were driven by 
the P/dlistines, yet we have no distinct mention of their 
settlement till after their removal beyond the limits of 
the land of Canaan; and these we shall now speak of.— • 
The Arkiiea are supposed to have settled about that part 
of mount Libanus, where Ptolemy and others place a 
city called Arce, — The Sinites likewise settled in these 
parts; and St. Jerom tells us of a city here called Siv, 
which, though in succeeding ages it was ruined by war, 
yet survives, in name and place. The Sm in Egypt has 



SACRED GEOGEAPHY. 407 



no connexion with the one under discussion. — The ^r- 
■vadiies took possession of the little island of Jrdus, to 
which they communicated their name, on the more 
northern coast of Syria, as a place of greater security 
from any new invasions. — In the neighbourhood of ^r- 
dus, on the continent, was the probable settlement of 
the Ze?narices; for we find a town on this coast, called 
Simyra, not far from Orthoria: and Eusebius expressly 
deduces the origin of the Orthorians from the Samari' 
ans or Szmy?-ians, — The Hamathites settled also in these 
parts, still further northward about Antioch, which was 
formerly called Hamath, their capital. St. Jerora af- 
firms that there were two cities of this name, one called 
Hamath the great, whereby was denoted Antioch; and 
the other the Lesser Hamath, which was afterwards 
Epifihania, as Josephus and St. Jerom both affirm. 

Before concluding this article we must observe, that 
this is the most suitable place to mention other nations 
of the vicinity of Canaan, though we cannot promise 
their several origins to be very distinctly marked, as in 
some instances they are quite obscure. These were 
the Avims, the Phiiistines, the Ilorites, {he E?mms, the 
Zamzu?}imi?ns, the Rephaims. — The A-vims were proba- 
bly descendants of Cush. They occupied the tract be- 
tween Gaza and Hazaroth, till they were dispossessed of 
it by the Philistines, descendants oi Mizraim, as they pass- 
ed over to perform the like discomfiture tor a portion 
of the Canaanites; which they had accomplished wher^ 
Abraham came to sojourn in the piomiseci Land — Oa 
the south of Canaan, the Horites inhabited mount Seir 
and the adjacent parts so far as the wilderness of Paran 
N n 2 



408 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

—Further eastward, and souih-east of Canaan, dwelt 
the gigantic Emims. And full east of Canaan, dwelt 
the gigantic Zamzummims or Zumims. — Lastly, on the 
north-east dwelt the Refihaims, who were also of the 
same gigantic race. — Thus we have seen the several 
people that inhabited the countries adjoining Canaan 
on the soulh-west, south-east, east, and north-east, when 
Abraham came thither. The country directly on the 
north, we have just shown, was possessed by several 
Canaanitish families, who had been dispersed by the 
Philistines. 

It is indeed said, that when Chedorlaqmer, king of 
Elam, with his confederates, smote the liejibaims, Zu- 
mims, Emims, and Horites, they also smote the country 
of the Amalckltes; but this must be understood prolep- 
tically of the Amalekites, as they were descendants of 
Amalek, grandson of Esau, and therefore gave name to 
that country long subsequent to the days of Abraham 
and Chedorlaomer. They consequently belong to a no- 
tice (which concludes the Sacred Geography) that will 
be given of the neighbouring nations of Canaan of 
a subsequent period, who had supplanted those last 
mentioned, previous to Joshua's conquest of the PrO' 
fvised Land. 

vwvwvwvw 

PRINCIPAL .PLACES AND INCIDENTS, 

Mentioned during- the sojourning of Abraham, Isaac, and 
Jacob, in Canaan; together -with the divellinga of their 
immediate descendants, iSi'c. 
1. Salem, or Seciiem, afterwards Jerusalem, whither 

Abraha?n came from Baran by divine command, with 

his nephew Ed, 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 409 

SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

2. The Plain of Moreh, where Abraham sojourn- 
ed awhile, near Salem. T\\\s plain is otherwise render- 
ed the High Oak, on account of a notable oak that stood 
in or near it, under which many transactions took place, 
that are spoken of .in scripture. It was a part of this 
plain that Jacob bought and bequeathed to Joseph as a 
mark of his particular favour: and in it there was a 
well, whereon our Saviour sat whilst he discoursed with 
the woman of Samaria, called Jacob's TFell because he 
had caused it to be made. 

3. Bethel, somewhat south of Sechem, near which 
Abraham came next to sojourn in a neighbouring Mount? 
till a famine occasioned his departure with Lot for 
Egypt, whence they shortly returned by several jour- 
neys, to the same Mount; which divided Bethel on the 
west from Hai or Ai on the east. Bethel is spoken of 
proleptically by Moses, in the history of Abraham, as 
this name was afterwards given to it by Jacob. 

4. The Plain of Jordan, through which the river 
Jordan flowed, and of which the valley of Jericho and 
vale of Siddim, were parts. After parting with his un- 
cle Abraham at the Mount between Bethel and Hai, in 
consequence of their substance being grown so great 
that they could no longer dwell together, Lot by the 
permission of his uncle, chose all the plain of Jordan to 
abide in, and pitched his tent near Sodoin. 

5. The Plain of Mamre, about two miles from Hc' 
bron^ where Abraham went to abide after parting with 
Lot, and where he raised an altar and entertained three 
angels under an oak. By a degeneracy of the true de- 
votion, this oak in after ages became famous for the su« 



410 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

perstitious worship performed there; which Constan- 
tine the great, and first Christian emperor of Rome, put 
a stop to, by having the altar destroyed, and a church 
built in its place.— The city of Hebron is frequently 
mentioned in the sacred history; as it was a place of 
great renown in those days. The name of Hebron 
seems to have been given to it by the Israelites^ for it 
was first called Kirjath-Arba, or the city of Arba. Mam- 
re, from a distinguished friend oi jibra/iamy was also 
another name for Hebron, as it was of the neighbouring 
filain. We are told in scripture that it was built seven 
years before Zoar in Egypt, which was the royal city of 
the Pharaohs, whose antiquity was the boast of the Egyp- 
tians. — Hebron was situated on the ridge of mountains 
which run southward from Jerusalem. As it was fa- 
mous for Abrahavi's sojourning in its neighbouring 
plain, was it famous in after days ^for king David's 
keeping his court there for the first seven years of his 
reign, till he took Jerusalem. It was also one of the ci- 
ties that were given to the Levites, and a city of re- 
fuge: and when the Christians had conquered Pales- 
tine, it was made a bishop's see, as we are told by the 
writers of those times. 

6. Sodom, Gomokrah, Admah, Zeboim, and Bela 
or Zoar, the pentapolis or five cities of that part of the 
plain of Jordan called the rale of Siddim, afterwards 
destroyed for their wickedness by fire from heaven, 
and covered by the salt sea, with the exception of Zoar, 
■which was saved by the intercession oi Lot. The kings 
of these several cities, some time after Lot had come 
©tnong them, threw off their subjection to ChedorlaO' 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 411 

SOJOURNING OP ABRAHAM, &:C. 

mcr king of Elain, to whom they had been tributary for 
twelve ye-AVR. Hereupon C/iec!orlao?ner, with Amraphcl 
king of Shinar, and liis other confederates, having van- 
quished the neighbouring countries, joined battle with 
the confederated kings of the vale oi Siddim. These 
last being subdued in their turn, the conquerors took 
away Lot among other captives. 

7. Laish or Lashaii, afterwards called Dax, and at 
a still later period Caesi-ea P/iili/i/ii^ whiiher Abraham, 
having received information oi Lot's captivity, pursued 
the army of C/iedorlaotner to rescue him. 

8. Hob AH, on the west of Damascus, ^vh'nher Adra/iam 
continued the pursuit of C/iedorlaomer and recovered 
LoL 

9. Gerak. Abraham having removed from the parts 
about Hebron, more southward between Kadesh and 
oTiur, sojourned in Gerar. This city it frequently men- 
tions in the history oi Abraham and Isaac. It was situ- 
ated in the south-west of Canaan, not far from Gaza. It 
is evident from the holy writ, that Gerar was a regal ci- 
iy of the Philistines, and that the usual title of its kings 
was Abiinelech, as Pharaoh was that of the kings of 
Egypt. Duriag Abrahani's sojourning in these parts, 
Isaac was born; who some time after was mocked by 
Ishmael, which offended Sarah, and by her desire, witU 
God's approbation, occasioned the expulsion of Ishmael 
and Hagar to the Wilderness of Paran. 

10. The Wilderness of Pakan, whither Abraham 
sent Hagar and her son Ishmael \o reside by Sarah's re- 
quest, was in Arabia Petra towards Egypt and the red 
sea. Moses informs us, Gen^ 16. that Hagar was found 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, 



in the Avay thitlier, at a fountain or well, by an angel of 
the Lord; and that this well was therefore caUal Jiecr- 
lahai-roi^ that is, the well of him that lives and sees me. 
This well or fountain, near which Isaac dwelt some 
time, after the death of Abraham, was not far from Ge- 
rar. 

11. Beersheba. ^5rfl/2fl7H was still abiding in these 
parts, when he made a covenant with Abivielech or the 
king of Gerar, respecting a well he had dug. This wellj 
from the mutual oath taken by the parties, was called 
Beersheba., or the well of the oath. Here Abraham 
planted a grove, and therein called on the name of the 
liOrd, the everlasting God. In process of time there 
was a considerable town built here, which is spoken of 
by the heathen writers by the name of Bersaba or Ber- 
zi7n?na. The greatest length of the land of Israel or 
Canaan, is frequently denoted in scripture, by the dis- 
tance from Dan in the north to Beersheba in the south. 

12. MotJNT MoRiAH. Whilst Abraham sojourned at 
Beersheba, it pleased God to make that signal trial of 
his obedience, by requiring him to go into the land or 
mount of Moriah and make him a burnt sacrifice of his 
only son Isaac whom he loved. This was the same 
mount whereon Solomon built his temple; and on one 
part of it, namely, mount Calvary, our saviour actually 
offered up himself to God for the redemption of man- 
kind. 

13. The Cave of Machpelah. At the death of 
Sarah, while Abrahajn sojourned at Mamre near Hebrorty 
he bought the neighbouring field and cave of Macdjic- 
lah, as a burying place for his family; and he buried 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 413 



SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

Sarah therein. Here also Abraham^* his son Inaac^ and 
other patriarchs were afterwards buried. 

1. Beeu-lahai-roi. Having finished the history ol 
Abraham, Moses proceeds to that of Isaac: who conti- 
nued to dwell, after his father's death, at Beer-lahai-rci, 
where, in all probability, £sau and Jacob were born. 
But a famine ensuing, Isaac went to 

2. Gerar, and dwelt there. Hence he removed to 

3. The Valley of Gerar, and pitching his tent, 
dwelt there; and digged again the well of Beersheba, 
which had been dug by his father: for the Philistines 
had stopped it after his death. And here Isaac en* 



• At his death Abraham made Isaac his heir, having given 
his other children presents and settled them in the east coun- 
try contiguous to Canaan. The fate of the nations descended 
of these branches of the patriarch's family and of those de- 
scended of his grandson Esau, seems to have been very seri- 
ously involved with that of the Canaanites, when the Almighty 
promised the Land of Canaan to the seed of Abraham for an 
inheritance, and withal further promised to give unto his seed 
the doininion of a much larger tract, namely, from the river of 
Egypt, unto the great river Euphrates: of course excluding 
from the title of seed of Abraham, all but those descended of 
Jacob,, to whom bis promises were repeated, and the title of 
Israel conferred, to tlie exclusion of the other branches, who 
were only included in the title of dominion. Dr. Wells remarks 
that «'this distinction between what God promised to give and 
actually did to the Israelites for a possession, and wliat he pro- 
mised to give and actually did give to them for dominion, is of 
good use for the cleai-er understanding of the sacred history." 



4U SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

tered into a covenant with the I'eigning Abimdech or 
Philhtian king of Gerar, such as his father had entered 
into with a former Abimelech. We just mentioned that 
the city built here in succeeding times, took the name 
of Beersheba. Jacob having deceived his father, and 
thereby cheated his elder brother Esau of his birthright, 
^yas sent to his uncle Bethuel^ Avho dwelt at Haran in 
Padan-Aram or Mesopotamia; where he remained four- 
teen years. At the expiration of this time, he returned 
to his father, who then dwelt at 

4. Mamre, near Hebron^ where Abraham had for- 
merly sojourned: and here he died, and was buried in 
the cave of Machjielah^ by his two sons. So that there 
are no places mentioned in the sojourning of Isaac, 
which have not been noticed in that of Abraham. 

1. Bethel, or the House of God; the place where 
Jacob., on his way from Beersheba to Haran, tarried all 
night, and in his sleep had a vision, in which the Al- 
mighty renewed the promise he had made to Abraham 
and Isaac, that in his seed should all the families of the 
earth be blessed — alluding .to the Messiah or Saviour of 
mankind: hence Jacob called this place Bethel, that is 
the house of God. This name was afterwards commu- 
nicated by the Israelites to the neighbouring city of 
Luz; which at a still later period was, by the prophet 
Hosea, called Beth-ave7i,X\^di\. is, the house of vanity and 
idolatry, in consequence of Jeroboam's setting up one of 
his golden calves therein. This place was not far from 
Jerusalem, though it belonged to the kingdom of Israel 
after the ten tribes revolted from the house of David, 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 415 

SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

till it was taken from Israel by Abijah king of Judah, 
and annexed to his kingdom.— BefAei is the only place 
mentioned in the account of Jacob's journey from Beer- 
sheba tp 

2. Haran. After several years stay here, during 
■which time he married his cousins Leah and Rachel^ he 
set out clandestinely with his wives on his return to Ca- 
naan, in consequence of having offended his father-in- 
taw and uncle Laban. As soon as Laban found that Ja* 
cob was gone, he set out in pursuit of him, and overtook 
^im in 

3. Mount Gilbad, as it was afterwards called, which 
lies to the east of the sea of Galilee. But Laban being 
Avarned by God to do no hurt to Jacob, upon their meet- 
ing with each other, they entered into a covenant of 
mutual friendship; in witness whereof they set up a 
heafi of stones, and celebrated if with a festival which 
they ate together upon the heap. Upon this spot was 
a city afterwards erected, by the name of Mizfiah, which 
had been another name for the heafi. of stones. Having 
parted with Laban, who returned to Sa-ran, Jacob conti- 
nued his journey across the Jordan till he came to a 
place which he called 

4. Maharaim, or the two hosts, because there he 
met the angels of God, or as he called them God'^s Host, 
Hence the city near this place was afterwards denoted 
among the Israelites by the name of Mahanaim. It be- 
came a place of great strength, and therefore was cho- 
sen by Abner for the royal residence of Ishbosheth the 
the son of Saul, during the war between him and Du' 

Oo 



416 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

vid. And foi' the same reason, it was chosen for the re^ 
tiretnent of David during the rebellion of his son jibsa- 
^oTTj,— Jacob having sent his wives and children forward 
across a broek called Ja^bok^ he tarried a while on the 
north side of it, at a place which he called 

5. Peniel or Penuel, that is, the face of God; be* 
cause there it pleased God to appear to him^ce to face. 
It was on this occasion that God gave him the name of 
Israel. A town in this vicinity also, was named Penuei 
by the Israelites, — Jacob next came to 

6. SuccoTH, not far from the Jordan^ where he built 
himself a house, and booths for his cattle. Hence also 
an adjoining city came to be called Succoth in sacred 
history. — After some time Jacob proceeded to 

7. Salem or Sechem, where he bought a "parcel of 
ground." And hence, by God's appointment, he went to 

8. Bethel, where he again had a vision of the Al- 
mighty. Thence he journeyed still to the southward, to 

9. Ephrath, or Bethleheh, near which Rachel 
died in giving birth to Benjamin: and Jacob set a pillar 
lipoii her grave, between Salem and Bethlehem. This 
monument was standing in the days of Moses; though 
the present monument that is shown to strangers on the 
road from Jerusalem to Bethlehem cannot be that which 
was erected by Jacob, as it has the appearance of a mo- 
dern and Turkish structure. Bethlehem is also render- 
ed famous by the birth of David, and still more so by 
thcit of our Saviour Jesus Christ.-— From this place Ja' 
cob or /sra^/ journeyed, ?.nd spread his tent beyond 

10. The Tower, of Edar, which, according to some 



SACRED GEOGRAPIIV. 417 

SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

of the learned, was in a field near Bethlehem. Hence 
he went to 

1 1. Mamre or Hebron, unto his father, who dying 
shortly after, was buried by Esau and Jacobs as we have 
mentioned above. The former then returned to Mount 
Seir^ the place of his residence; while the latter conti- 
nued at the late abode of his father, whence, some time 
after, he sent his son Josefih to Dathan^ twelve miles 
north of 5ama?-/a, to inquire after his brothers, who had 
been attending their father's flocks near Sechem: where- 
upon they sold Joseph to Ishmaelite and Midianite mer- 
chants, then trading from Gilead to Egypt, whither 
they carried him along with them, and sold him to Po- 
(her, captain oi Pharaoh's guards. 

Before we follow the footsteps o^ Joseph to Egypt, to 
give an account of that country so far as it relates to the- 
sacred history, we will speak in a few words, of the 
dwellings of the other sons of Abraham by Hagar and 
Keturah, with those of the sons of Lot, and of Esau the 
eldest son of Jacab. 

IsHMAEL dwelt in the wilderness oi Paran, whither 
be had been banished with his mother Hagar. Here 
he took a wife out of Egypt, and became the father of 
twelve sons, whose posterity dwelt in various parts ©f 
Jrabia, from Egypt to the Persian gulf. Some of these 
twelve sons of Ishmael are particularly mentioned by 
Moses as inhabiting these parts; and plain marks of 
their names are to be found, in the heathen writers, 
among the inhabitants of this tract. Thus the descend- 
ants of jYebaioth the first son of Ishmael, were the M- 



4l8 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

SOJOURNING OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

bathxi; who are more frequently mentioned by the 
Greeks and Romans than the rest. But the particular 
situation of each is neither important nor clearly desig- 
nated. We need only observe further, that these peo- 
ple were, from their father, denominated Ishmaelites; 
so were they called Hagarenes or Hagarites^ from their 
grandmother, Hagar. Under this last name they are 
mentioned by heathen writers, some calling them Jgaai 
and others Agareni. But though the names of Hagar- 
enes and Ishmaelites^ may have been used promiscuous- 
ly at first, yet the lapse of time seems to have raised 
some distinction between them, inasmuch as the psalm- 
ist denotes those that were next the Edomites to be 
Ishmaelites, and those next the Moabites to be Hagar- 
enes. In fine, the Arabs to this day value themselves 
upon their descent from Ishmael. 

During his life time Abraham made presents to his 
sons by Keturah, and settled them in the parts of Arabia 
lying east of Canaan. The principal of these sons was 
Midian, the father of the Midia?iites, who settled to the 
south-east of the salt sea, adjoining the Moabites. In 
the course of time, the Midianites seem to have extend- 
ed to the red sea, where a tract was called the land of 
Midian, in which Jethro, the father-in law of Moses, 
lived. 

The dwelling of the Moabites and Ammonites, de- 
scendants of Lot by his two sons, Moab the elder, and 
Ben-Ammi the younger, father oi Ammon, next demand 
our attention. — Moab settled himself eastward of the 
salt sea or Asfihaltite lake, and of the river Jordan. — 
Ben-Ammi and his son Ammon, father of the Ammonites^ 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 419 

SOJOURNIHrO OF ABRAHAM, &C. 

seated themselves in the parts adjoining the Moabites 
to the north-east. These settlements afterwards formed 
the kingdom of Si/ioti, king of the Ammonites. 

The land of Edom, or the dwelling of jBsau now re- 
mains to be noticed. Upon parting with his brother 
Jacob, Esau went and dwelt in the country of Mount 
Scir; which was formerly called Mount Hor, from the 
Horites, its former possessors, and ancestors of a consi- 
derable personage by the name of Seir, from whom it 
took its later appellation. When this last name substi- 
tuted the former as distinctive of this mountainous 
country, that was retained as an appellation for a parti- 
cular mountain in these parts, styled Mount Hor. This 
country extended from the southern shores of the As- 
jihaltite lake, to the red sea; and, from its becoming the 
abode of Esau, who was nicknamed Edom, that is red, 
for selling his birthright for red plottage, it was called 
the land of Edom. Hence, too, to mention it by the 
way, came the Idumean sea, or sea of Edom, to be call- 
ed the red sea. 

Thus have we seen the settlements of the neighbour- 
hood of Caiiaan by the posterity of Abraham and his ne- 
phew Lot, from the time of their coming thither, till 
Josefih was sold into Egypt. And it is remarkable that 
Providence made room for these settlements, by the 
great slaughter of the Refihaims, Zumims, Emims, Ho- 
rites, and Amalekites, the former inhabitants of these 
parts, made by Chedorlaomer king of EHm and his coa- 
federates. 

O 2. 



420 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY, 



TABLE VI. 

Egypt or land of Mizraim, and its cities. 



i. (Objects west of the Nile). 
a. No or Ammon-No? 
(Isle of the 70 interpreters) 
f>- Noph or Memphis. 

2. Rahab. 

a. Zoan, (royal city of Pha 

raoh.) 

b. Sain or Sin? 

3. Land of Goshen or Ra 

MESES. 

«. Rameses or Raamses. 

b. Pithom. 

c. Sin. 

d. Tahpanhes or Taphnas. 

e. On, Aven, or Bethshemesh, 

f. Succoth. 
ff. Etham, 

h. Piahirothj 

i. Migdol, 

j. Baalzephon. 

4. Land of Pathros, 
fl. Pathros, 

b. No, or Ammon-No, (city of 
Jupiter Ammon), 

c. Syene, 

(d. Nahal, or Great River), 
(e. Sichor, or river of Egypt), 



1. Objects west of the Nile). 

a. Alexandria, 

( Pharos, near Alexandria), 

b. (No remains). 
3. The Delta. 

a. San, (Tanis of the Greeks). 

b. Sa,(Sais). 

3. (East of the Delta to the Isth- 
mus). 

a. (Whence the Israelites de- 
parted for Canaan). 

b. Heroopolis. 

c. Tineh, (Pelusium). 

d. Safnas, (Daphnje Pelusia). 

e. Matarea, (Heliopolis). 

%. y (Plafies confining on the 
j^ r Red Sea, in the route of 
£ ■ C the Israelites journeying 
.' \ from Egypt. 

4. Thebais op Upper Egypt. 

a. Pathyris? 

b. Aksor, or Luxor, (Diospolis 
Magna, or Thebae). 

c. Assuan. 

{d. The Nile). 

(e. Between Egypt & Canaan) , 



Remarks. 
We have already seen that Egyfit is generally dcnot' 
ed, in the Hebrew text, the Land of Mizraim^ from il.s 
being first settled by Mizraim^ one of the sons of Ham. 
It is there also sometimes styled the Land of Ham. i 
tvhich renders it probable that Ham settled with his eon 
Mizraim in this country. 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 421 



The Egyptians were looked upon by the heathens, as 
he inventors of geontietry, arithmetic, astronomy, phy-t 
sic, magic, and sorcery. Of their skill in this last, we 
have remarkable instances in scripture, Exod. 7. 1 1, &c. 
They are said to have expressed their conceptions, in the 
earlier ages, by the shapes of birds, beasts, trees, and va- 
rious fanciful figures, which species of language they 
termed hyerogly/ihics. They certainly had a very hap- 
py talent for this sort of composition, which probably was 
the original of all symbolical representations of thought. 
And what tends to confirm this conjecture, is, that they 
are considered as the inventors of letters; which are but 
a refinement upon hyeroglyphics. In short, it was from 
the Egyptians, that Pythagoras, and Democritus, learnt 
their philosophy; Lycurgus, Solon, and Plato, their forms 
of government; and Orpheus and Homer, their poetical 
fictions of the Gods. Hence we may form some concep- 
tion of the great learning of which Moses was endowed, 
when S/. Stefihen, Acts vii. 22. says " he v/as learned in 
all the wisdom of the Egyptians." 

The space inclosed between the bifurcation of the Nile 
before it enters the sea, and the coast, was called by the 
Greeks the Delta, on account of its triangular shape. 
For the same reason, M. Bochart thinks that this tract 
is denoted in the book of Psalms, and in the prophecy of 
Isaiah, by the name of Rahab: for, says he, the Hebrew 
word Rahab is the same with the Egyptian word Rib, 
whereby to this very day this tract is called, from its re- 
semblance to the shape of a pear, which the Egyptians 
call rib; and hence in the very n)iddle of this tract there 
was a Nome or district named Athribis, that is, the heart 



422 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



of the pear. — In this tract was the royal city Zoan, called 
Tanis by the Greeks, situated on the tanitic mouth of the 
Nile, near the sea. If this is not the city of Egypt y 
which is first mentioned in the sacred history, it was at 
least the most ancient of all the cities of Egypt, and the 
first royal seat of the Pharaohs, the most ancient kings of 
that country. Several of the miracles which were 
wrought before Pharaoh, to gain his consent that the 
Israelites should go out of Egypt, are said to have been 
done in the fields of Zoan. — The next city of Egypt men- 
tioned in scripture, is JVofih, by the seventy interpreters 
rendered Memphis, situated on the west of the Nile and 
above the Delta. It participated with Zoan the dignity 
of royal residence, and finally superceded it. Memphis* 
is celebrated by heathen writers, for the pyramids which 
were built in its neighbourhood, and the sphinx which is 
cut out of an entire rock. These pyramids are by the 
Arabs and Turks called the mountains of Pharaoh; one 
of which is said to have been built by that Pharaoh who 
perished with his army in the red sea. 

* Old Cairo succeeded Memphis on the opposite side of the 
Kile. Thevenot has observed that all the fine pieces of antiquity 
which remain in Egypt, are attributed to Joseph; and all that are 
of an opposite character to Pharaoh, wlio opposed the departure 
of the Israelites from Egypt. Thus the inhabitants have a tradi- 
tion that the Granaries of Old Cairo, which are called Joseph's 
Granaries, are the very Granaries which that patriarch built to lay 
up corn in for the approaching }'ear3 of famine. Also among the 
ruins of New or Grand Cairo, is a beautiful Hall, called Joseph's 
Hall, which is supported by thirty large pillars of Theban marble •• 
Near tliis casrle nrpaltice, is a prison divided into many dungeons 
cut out of the rock, called Joseph's prison, under the pretence that 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



The Land of Goshen^ which was assigned the Israelites 
to dwell in, is generally supposed to have occupied that 
tract which lies on the east of the Delta to the Isth- 
mus, and borders on the red sea. It was also called the 
Land of Rameses, from the city o^ Ra?neses or Raamses, 
built therein by the Israelites, as a defence against any 
invasions that might happen from that quai'ter. Here 
they also kept their repository of grain, a custom which 
seems to have been much in use among the Egyptians 
since its first introduction by Josefih. It was from this 
city^ that the Jeivs commenced their exody from the king- 
dom of Pharaoh. Beside Rameses, we learn from Exod. 
1.11. that the Israelites built for Pharaoh another ci- 
ty in this quarter, and for the same end,^ called Pithoin. 
For further particulars of this place, see page 29 1, Part 
l.—Sin is rendered by the seventy interpreters SaiJi^ 
iience some suppose it was the same as Sais, which was 
once a capital city in the Delta. But Bochart ha\ing ob- 
served that the word Sin in the Syrian tongue signifies 
dirt, as does Pelas in the Greek, conjectures that the 
Hebrew Sin was the same city which the Greeks called 
Pelusium. And this opinion in confirmed by what Eze- 
kiel adds concerning Sin, that it was the strength of Egypt, 
for Pelusium had the advantage of being so considered, 
from its situation Sec, being styled by Suidas the key of 
Egyfit. — Not far from Pelusiam or Sin, stood Tahfianhes 
or Tafihnas, which was early changed into Dafihnx; and 
it was, no doubt, the DaphncB Pelusia of Herodotus, as 
Stcphanus the geographer informs us. From the plea- 
santness of its situation, which is implied by its name, 
Pharaoh had a palace there. And perhaps from the 



424 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



oriental name Tahpanest Atnoixn^ pleasant or beautiful, 
waS originally derived Daphne, used by the Greeks to sig* 
nify the same. — Pibeseth is rendered by the seventy in- 
terpreters Bubastis, which stood near the pelusiac 
-branch of the Nile, some distance south oi Pelusium. 
There was another city in Egypt, mentioned in Ezek. SO. 
17. by the name of Pibeseth. — Still more to the south, 
at some distance from this eastern channel of the Nile, 
stood-the city On, otherwise called Aven, and Bethshe- 
mesh in different parts of scripture, and HeliopoUa by 
profane writers; all of which names have reference to 
the idolatry for which this city was famous, signifying the 
city of the Sun. The prophet ^ereTwrnA distinguishes be- 
tween this city and that in the land of Israel of the same 
name, when he says, that " JYebuchadnezzar, king of Ba- 
bylon, shall break the images of Bethshernesh that is in 
the land of Egypt." It was the daughter of the priest of 
this city, whom Pharaoh gave in marriage to Joseph. 
And Josephus tells us that this city was given to the 
Israelites for a dwelling, upon their coming into Egypt. 
•—•Succoth, Etham, Piahiroth, Migdol, and Baal-zephon, 
which lay in the route of the Israelites between Barneses 
and the red sea, will be touched upon in the next article. 
The country or land of Pathros, as it is called in Jer. 
44. 1. corresponded with Thebais or upper Egypt. Pa- 
thros is also spoken of as a city by several of the pro- 
phets: and the probability is, that it stood somewhat re- 
mote from the Nile, on the west, over against Thebes; 
for Pliny mentions a Nome or district in this quarter by 
the name of Pathyrites, and Ptolemy a town called Pa- 
thyria or TathiriSy which are supposed to have derived 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 42j 



their names from Hebrew Pathros — The city of Ain- 
7no?7, which in the British translation of the Bible is ren^ 
dered JVo, and by the seventy interpreters DiosfioUs or 
the ciiy of Jupiter, was the same with the famous city of 
Thebes: for, Ammon or Dioafiholis is reported to have 
teen very large, and to have had no less than one hun- 
dred gates; and Thebes is well known to have been sui- 
named HecatomfiyU on account of its hundred gates. It 
was also greatly beautified by its colossal statues, obe- 
lisks, temples, palaces, and other magnificent buildings. 
It is not unworthy of notice here, that some have supposed 
there \fas a city called JVo or Ammon-iN'o., in the times of 
writing the Old Testament, where Alexander the great 
afterwards built upon its ruins, the noble cities of Alex - 
andria. — Syene is the last city of this part of Egypt, 
mentioned in Scripture; and indeed, it is the most south- 
ern city of Thebais., on the confines oi Ethiopia. Hence 
the prophet Ezekiel, speaking of the desolation that God 
would bring upon all Egypt from one extremity to the 
other, proceeds — " Therefore, thus says the Loi-d; Be- 
hold, I will make the land of Egypt utterly desolate, 
from the tower of Syene even to the border of Cash." This 
city is said to have been exactly under the 'ropic of Can- 
cer: so that when the sun entered that si.<n of the zodiac, 
its beams shone perpendicularly upon it, casting no length 
of shadow, 

he here interpreted the dream of the king's butler. But says 
Thevenot, the finest and most curious structure to be seen in the 
castle, is, what they call Joseph's Well. 



426 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



PRINCIPAL PLACES AND INCIDENTS, 

Mentioned in the journeying of the Israelites from Egijjtt 
to the Promised Land. 

1 . Rameses; whence the Israelites set forth for Canaan. 

2. SuccoTH, their first day's journey, marching east- 
wardly. 

3. Etham, their second day's journey, near the wilder- 
ness, whence, God having vouchsafed to guide them in 
future by a miraculous pillar, that had the appearance of 
smoke by day, and fire by night, they turn S. W. to 

4. PiHAHiROTH, their third day's journey, to pass the 

5. Red Sea (its western arm) or Weedy sea, to avoiil 
Pharaoh's army; the water yielding to ihcm but destroy- 
ing the army. 

6. WiLDEUNEss of Etham, or Shur, into which, out oi 
the red sea, they went three day's journeying to 

7. Marah, where the water was bitter, but sweetened 
by a peculiar wood. Hence they went to 

8. Elim, where they found 12 wells, and 70 palm-trees. 
From Elim, passing near the 

9. Red Sea- they encamped in the . 

10. Wilderness of Sin, where God first sent them 
manna, with which they were thereafter regularly served. 
Out of the wilderness of Sin, the Israelites took their 
journey, and encamped at 

11. DopHKOH, which was next to Sin. And they de- 
parted from Dophkoh, and encamped in 

12. Alush, wliich was next to Dophkoh. And they 
removed from Alush and encamped in 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 427 

THK EXHDUS, Sec. 

13. Rf'phidim, at Mt. Horeb, where Moses smote the 
rock of Horeb for water, subdued the Amalekites, and 
built an altar which he called the Lord my banner. The/ 
next encamped at 

14. Mt. Sinai, part of Mt. Horeb (now Mt. of Moses), 
where thej' stiipt iheniselves of their ornaments to make 
the golden calf; which t;hey worshipped, whilst Moses 
went into the mount to receive the Tables of Covenant 
from God. and the plan of the tabernacle, which they here 
erected. Next 

15. Taberah, where God destroyed some of the Is- 
raelites for murmurings, &c., with fire and a plague. 
They wer^ carried to 

16. KiBBOTH-HATTAAVAH, whcre they were burit^d. 
Hence the Israelites journeyed to 

17. Hazeroth, where Miriam was punislVed with' 
leprosy for speaking against Moses, &c. Hence the Is- 
raelites removed, and pitched their tents at 

18. Cadesh-barnea, in the wilderness of Paran, 
■^hence Moses by divine command, sent men to search 
for the land of Canaan; their account of which produced 
despair of its conquest. For this want of faith God con- 
demns the adults to dwell and die in the wilderness, ex- 
cepting Joshua and Caleb. Notwithstanding, they in 
defiance, attempt to go direct to Canaan; but the Amale- 
kites and Canaanites smote them into 

19. HoRMAH, whereXipon they wept before the Lord; 
but he would not hearken to their voices; so they took 
their journey again into the wilderness, by the Red sea, 
unto 

P 



428 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

THE KXODUS, Sec. 

20. Kabesh, in Zin, where they abode for several 
days; and having compassed mount Seir, or the land of 
Tidbmi for some time, left the desert, and encamped at 

21. MotJNT HoR, in the edge of Edom, where. Aaroi) 
ditd. Decamping hence they pitched in 

22. Zalmonath, then in 

23. PuNONj and then in 

24. Oboth, where they again despair; for which fiery 
serpents are sent among them: they i-epent and are for- 
given, &c. They then proceed to 

25. IjE-BAkiM, on the border of Moab, whence they 
pass the valley or brook Zered; when, 38 years having 
elapsed, and the offenders being nearly all dead, God 
charges Moses to pass the coast of Moab, and not to dis- 
tress the children of Ammon, on coming among them. 
Accordingly they pass the river Arnon to 

26. Dibon-Gad, among the Amorites. After making 
several other encampments, they pitched in the 

27. Plains of Moab, by the Jordan, near Jericho; 
whence God commanded Moses to get into the mountain 
Jbarim, unto mount JVebo, to the lop of Pisg-ash that is 
over against Jericho, and take a view of the delightful 
country from which he was excluded on account of his 
improper conduct in the desert of Zin; which he did, after 
appointing Joshua his successor to conduct the Israelites 
into (::.n?.r.n, vind there died.* 



• It may not be amis? here to remark, that though Moses pro- 
fesses to give an account of the journey of the laraefitet; it is 
not to be inferred that he designed to give a detail o< all the place* 
where they made a hal' for a short finie, or which were not dis- 
tinguished for any remarkuble occurrcace.. 



SACRED OEOGR\PHY. 42^ 



HK KXODUb & 



— But before the death of Moses, and preparatory to 
the conquest of Canaan by Joshua, the Jfroiflites had 
subdued the country beyond or on tlie east of thi JorclaiVi 
which Moses divided between the two tribes uf Reuben 
and Gad, and one half of the tribe of Manasseb, 

It remains now to add a few words respecting the 
twelve tribes, or of the descendants of Levi in particular, 
before we pass on lo the Laiid of Promise. Though the 
twelve tribes corresponded in number, with the twelve 
sons of Jacob, they were not thus diblinctly made up of 
their respective descendants; as those of Josefih formed 
two tribes (£/?Araim and Mana&aeli), while those of Zcx-J' 
were not assigned as a tril)e to any distinct lotof ihe pro- 
.mhed Land, being otherwise disposed oi'by the Al.tiighty. 
Tnus the excess of a tribe in the line of /is.v<///i, filled the 
deficiency of a tribe in that ol Levi. For it pleasiu' Gcwl 
lo apioin?, tlut the (Ic^cciul int<; or/'i"" s'.^ nld r,-u ''t-r 
i.bo.,.' ::.: ^,'J::r^, iViJ W..L u.' h - ^.L..^ : ■.vlii,-!, ihcy ■'id 
in respect to the tabernacle, while the laraclites were 
coming to Canaan. Thus the priesthood of the Lord be- 
ing the appointed inheritance of the Levitea, in order to 
free them from the common concerns of life, it was at 
the same lime decreed that " they should be maintained 
of the things of the Temple, and be partakers with the 
altar," However, as they must have a habitation, though 
they had no distinct lot anjong the rest of the I&raehtes, 
there were certain cities assigned them to dwell in, which 
from thsnce were stiled Levitical Cities. And as the 
division of the Land of Promise was assigned to each 
tribe by lot^ so wcte these cities assigned by loi, to the 



439 SACRED GEOGKAPHY. 

THE EXODUS, Sic. 

branches of the Levites — Gtrshon, Koftath and Merari. 
Thus the children of Jaron the priest, a descendant of 
Kohath, had by lot out of the tribes of Judah-, Simeoii, and 
Bevjumin^ thirteen cities: and the rest of the Kohathitea 
had by lot^ out of the tribes of Ephraim, Dun, and the 
half tribe of Mananseh westward, ten ciiies. And the 
children of Gershon had by lot, out of the tribes of Is- 
iuchar, Ashur, Aa/i/itali, and the half tribe of Mana^sch 
east of the Jordan, thirteen cities. And the children of 
3/era?i liad by lot, out of the tribe of Iieube7i, Gad, and 
Zebulut}, twelve cities. So that the number of Lcvilical 
cities were forty -eight. 

Theihirteen ciiies which were assigned to the children 
of Jajxn, who were Priests, were therefore distinguished 
by the title of Sacerdotal cities, or the cities of the Priests, 
'i'he Sacerdotal cities, being within the tribes of Judah, 
Simeon and Bc7:jamin, adheaid to the house oi David iii 
the revolt of the ten tribes under Jeroboam, 

Oi the levitical cities, six were also cities of refuge} 
viz. h'edes/i in mount Nephali, S/iec/iem in mount Eph- 
r&\\n, Hebron in the hilly tract of Judah, Bezer in the tribe 
of Riuiben, Ravioth-Gilead in the tribe of Gad, and Go- 
Ion in the tribe of Manasseh. Of these the three foriTier 
lay on the west o( Jordan, and the three latter on the cast 
of that river. The design of these cities of refuge was, 
as we learn from Jos/i. 20. 2. &.c. " that the slayer, who 
kills ai.y personunawares, might flee thither, for refuge 
from the avenger of blood." This was the origin of the 
rig/it of asylum conferred by the Pagans upon theit-^ 
TempUs, Altars and Sacred Groves,^ 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. . 431 



CANAAN, OR LAND OF PROMISE, 

After the Conquest of Joshua, 

1 . This once rich and beautiful tract of country 
was first called the Land of Canaan, from Noah's grand- 
son, by whom it was peopled: but in after ages it was 
distinguished by other appellations; such as the Land of 
Promise^ the Land of God, the Holy Land, Falestine, 
Judea, and the La7id of Israel. 

2. The Jews have dignified this country with the title 
of Holy Land, on account of its metropolis, which was 
regarded as the centre of God's worship, and his pecu- 
liar habitation: and Chi'istian writers have deemed it 
worthy of the same honor, as being the scene on which 
the coequal Son of God accomplished the great work of 
redemption. — It was called Judea, from the tribe of Ju 
dah, who inhabited the finest part of the whole. At pre- 
sent it is generally distinguished by the name of Pales- 
tine, which is derived from the Philistines. For notwith- 
standing that the Hebrew people established themselves 
in Canaan, the Philistines maintained possession of a ma- 
ritime country, which extended to the limits of Egypt^ 
And there is reason to believe that it was the Syrians, 
who, by a greater attachment to this people than to a na- 
tion originally foreign in the country, have given occa- 
sion to the extension of the name of Palestine, which is 
found in history at the time of Herodotus, and which the 
Jewish writers have since adopted in the same extent. 

3. It was bounded on the west by the Great sea, or 
Mediterranean; on the east by the lake Asfihaltite^i the 
t2 



43S SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



river Jordan^ the Samachonite lake, and the sea of Tibe- 
rias; on the north by the mountains of Antilibanus; and 
on the south by Edom or Idumea. Its extent, according 
to the most accui'ate maps, appears to have been 200 
iniles in length, and about 80 in breadth at the widest 
part. It reaches from 31 deg. 3 min. to 33 deg. 20 min. 
of north latitude; and from 34 deg. 50 min. to 27 deg. 
15 min. of east longitude. — It is necessary to observe, 
that this description is confined to the part which is 
properly called the Land of Promise; the boundaries of 
that part which belonged to two tribes and a half on the 
other side of the Jordan, called Percea^ and of the king- 
doms of Sihon^ Og^ &c. are not so easily ascertained, 
any more than the conquests and acquisitions which they 
afterwards made under the reigns of their most prosper- 
otis monarchs. 

4. The serenity of the air, the fertility of the soil, and 
the incomparable excellence of the fruits of Palestine, 
induced the Jewish lawgiver to describe it as '< a land 
that flowed with milk and honey; a land of brooks and 
waters, of fountains that spring out of the hills and va- 
leys; a land of wheat and barley, of vines, pomegranates, 
iigs, &c.; a land .where there is no lack or scarcity of 
ariy thing." Its richness and fecundity have been ex- 
tolled even by Julian the Apostate, and many writers 
have desca.nted upon its natural beauties. But in con- 
sequence of the just anger of God, the greater part of it 
is now reduced into a mere desert, and seems incapable 
of cultivation. 

5. Of the mountains so frequently celebrated in the 
profetic books of Holy writ, those of Lebanon, or Liha- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 433 

PALESTINE. 

Nus, were the highest and most considerable. This fa- 
mous chain is computed to be about 300 miles in com- 
pass, having Mesofiotamia on the east, ylrmenia on the 
north, Palentine on the south, and the Mediterranean on 
the west. It consists oi four ridges^ which rise above 
each other; the Jirst is extremely fertile in grain and 
fruit; the second barren and rocky; the third embellish- 
ed vi'ith verdant plains, balsamic herbs, and odoriferous 
flowers; and the fourth.^ by reason of its surprising 
height, is generally covered with snow. Several incon- 
siderable rivers have their sources in these mountains, 
viz. the Jordan^ Rocham^ JVahar-Rossian^ and JVahar- 
Cadicha; some others of less stream, rush down the 
heii^hts, arfd form the most beautiful cascades that ever 
attracted the admiration of the curious. The western 
ridge is properly distinguished by the appellation of Li- 
banus, as the eastern is called ^ntilibanus, and the hol- 
low between, Coelosyria. They are at present inhabited 
by the Maronites and wild Arabs; and spotted with va- 
rious edifices, as churches, convents, chapels, grots, &c. 
These mountains make a considerable figure in the Jew- 
ish history, on account of the prodigious number of ce- 
dars which they afforded for the ornament of Solomon's 
temple and metropolis. And St. Jerom, speaking of Li- 
BANUs, says, " it is the highest hill in all the Land of 
Promise, as well as the most woody and thickset." — 
Mount Hermon, is, like Libanus, usually capped with 
snow; is next to it in dignity for height; anci was once 
famed for an ancient temple much resorted to by the su- 
perstitious heathens. It is also celebrated by the Royal 
Psalmist for its refreshing dews: and St. Jerom assertSji 



434 SACRKD GEOGRAPHY. 



that its snow was carried to Tyre and Sidon; to be used 
in refreshing liquors. — Mount Tabor is justly admired 
for its beauty, regularity, fertility, and central situation 
in a large plain, at a distance from any other hill. It en- 
joys the noblest prospect that can possibly be imagined, 
of many places famed in Scripture; such as the hills of 
Samaria and Engadi on the south; those of Hermon and 
Gilboa on the east and north-east; and mount Carmel on 
the south-west. Some remains of the wall and gates, 
built by Josephus are still visible on the top; and on the 
eastern side are those of a strong castle,, in the cincture 
of which are three altars in remembrance of the three 
tabernacles,, which St. Peter proposed to erect at the 
time of our Lord's transfiguration.— Mount Carmel 
stands on the skirts of the sea, and is the most remarka- 
ble headland on the coast. It seems to have derived its 
name from its abundant fertility, and is highly venerated 
both by Jews and Christians, as having been the residence 
oi the firofi/iet Elijah. — Mount Olivet, or the mount 
of Olives, is situated at the distance of one mile from 
Jerusalem, and commands a fine view of the city, from 
which it is parted by the brook Kedron^ and the valley 
of Jehoshafihat. It is not, in reality, a single hill, but 
part of a long ridge, withyoKr summits, extending from 
north to south; tlie middlemost of which is that whence 
Our Saviour ascended to Heaven. — Mount Calva- 
ry claimsour chief regard, as the scene of our Redeem- 
er's §rea^ atonement for his sinful creatures. It stood 
anciently without the gates of the city, being the place 
appointed for public executions. But the emperor 
Adrian having ordered Jerusalem to be rebuilt a little to 



I 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 13S 

PALRSr.NE. 

,the norihward of us lyrnier situation, enclosed this 
mountain within the walls. Constantine erected a mag- 
nificent church upon it; and it has always been regarded 
as a place of great veneration by Christians of all deno- 
minations. — Mount Gihon stands west of Jemsaievty 
and at a smaller distance than Calvarij, being about two 
furlongs fiom the gate of ^e^/i/f/je?n. It was here that 
Solomon was anointed king, by Zadock the priest and 
Nathan the prophet. There was also a celebrated fiool 
upon it from winch king Hezekiah brought water by an 
aqueduct, into the city. It is still a noble basin, one 
hundred and six paces long, and sixty-seven broad, lined 
with plaster, and well stored with water. — Mount Mo- 
uiAH, the site of the famous temple of Solomon, stands 
on the south-east of Calvary, having Millo on the west, 
so called from the filling up of that deep valley, in order 
to raise it to a level with the rest. It is commonly sup- 
posed that Abraham was commanded to offer his beloved 
son Isaac as a burnt sacrifice to God upon this moun- 
tain. — This article of mountains may be concluded with 
obse(ving» tiiat those in the kingdom of Judah mostly 
stand southward towards the land vi Edom; but those of 
the kingdom of Jisreal are interspersed within the coun- 
try. 

6. The niost celebrated of the valleys were Berek- 
HAH, in the tribe of Judah, on the west side of the lake 
of Sodom; Sidim, famed for the overthrow of Chedorlao- 
raer; Shaveh, or the royal valley, where the king of So- 
dom met Abraham after the defeat of the confederates; 
the VALE of Salt, celebrated for the overthrow of the 
Edomites by David and Amaziah; Jczheel, the scene of 



436 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



PALESTINE. 



Jezabel's untimely end; Mamre, so called from the 
name of its owner, and from the oak under which Abra- 
ham entertained the three celestial visitors; Rephaim, 
the vale of the Titans and giants; Jehoshaphat, so cal- 
led from the victory there obtained by a monarch of that 
name; Hinnom, anciently defiled by many barbarous 
rites and supertitions; Zeboim, which received its appel- 
lation from one of the four cities that perished with So- 
dom, near the Dead sea; Achor, where Achan was put 
to death by the Israeiitish host, for his sacrilege; Bochim, 
so denominated from the universal mourning which the 
Israelites made there on account of the dreadful mes- 
sage which they received from God for their disobe- 
dience; and the valley of Elah, famous for the defeat 
of Goliath and the Phiiisiines, by David and his royal pa* 
tron Saul. 

7. There were likewise several noted plains in Palcs- 
iine, viz. the Great plain hrongh which the river Jor- 
d:!>i vn.yy ] ti? !•'.•[■; > .';lm:;v,;.; ■• '!:rh ^ :i . ;:.ci J ti-)!;i 
ilcyihiiJiolU la niuuiil Curmclj buARuN, where the Ga- 
dites are supposed to have fed their numerous flocks 
and herds; Sephalah, which extended westward and 
southward of Eteutherojiolis; Jericho, much celebrated 
for its fialm-trees-, balm, shrub, and rose-irees; with thorns 
too numerous to admit ot memory. 

8. Many DESERTS and wildernesses of this country 
are mentioned in the sacred history, which are not, how- 
ever, to be understood of places quite barren or uninha- 
bited; for several of them contained cities and villages. 
The word, therefore, commonly meant no more than a 
ttact that bore neither corn, wine, nor oil, but was left to 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 4^/ 



PALE TiNE. 



the spontaneous product lon^ of nature. The most noted 
of these deserts were Arnon, in which the river of that 
name runs through the landoiGUead; Ziph, where Da- 
vid sought an asylum from persecution; Cadesh, near 
Gadesh-Barnea, on the south side of Judah^ mentioned 
as the place where Moses and Aaron were chastised for 
smiting the rock; Mahon, on the south of Jeshimon; 
Tekoah, Bezbr, Gibeon, and several others. 

9. Among the woods or forests mentioned in Scrip- 
ture, were those of Hareth, whither David withdrew 
from Saul; Ephraim, wliere Absalom received the 
just reward of his rebellion; Lebanon, where Solomon 
built a magnificent palace; and Bethel, whence the 
bears came and devoured the children who insulted the 
Prophet Elisha. 

10. Of the seas there arc commonly reckoned ^x;f, 
viz. the Great sea or the Mediterranean, the Dead sea, 
the sea of Tiberias-, the Samochonite sea or lake, and the 
sea of Jazer. The Jirst of these has been frequently de- 
scribed by travellers: the second, called by some au- 
thors the Asfihaltite lake, is so impregnated with salt, 
that those who dive beneath its surface are immediately 
covered with a brine; and vast quantities of bitumen are 
thrown by its WAves, upon the shore: the third is highly 
commended by Josephus for the sweetness and coolness 
of its water, and variety of excellent fish: the Jeurth is 
iamed only for the thickness of its water, from which it 
is supposed to have derived its name: and the fifth is 
no other than a small lake in the vicinity of the city 
Jaztr. 

H. The Jordan isthemodt considerable of the rf" 



4^8 SACRKD GEOGRAPHY. 



P.VLli TINE 

vers, and indeed the m>ly stream ihat merits the name, 
as the Arnon, Jabbok^ Chireth, Sorck, Kishon, Bosor, iSfc. 
are but brooks or rivulets in comparison of this. It has 
its source at the famous lake of P/iiala, about ten miles 
north of that of Samochon; its course is mostly south* 
ward inclining a few degrees towards the west; its 
breadth has been compared to that of the Thames at 
Windsor; its depth is said to be nine feet at th« very 
blink; its rapidity considerable; and the scenery of its 
banks varied, according to the place which it istersects. 
In ancient times, it overflowed about the season of the 
early harvest, or soon after Easter, but it is no longer 
subject to this inundation. The filain on both sides from 
the sea of Tiberias^ to the Asfihaltite lake, is extremely 
arid and uai wholesome during the heat of summer, and 
every where steril, except that part which lies contigu- 
ous to the river. 

12, Among the most remarkable curiosjiics of Pales- 
tine, may be justly reckoned various petrifactions in 
the neighbourhood of Mount CarmeL which bear the most 
exact resemblance to citrons, mellons, olives, ficaches, 
and other vegetable productions. Here are also found 
a kind of oysters, and bunches oi grafies of the same con- 
sistence. Small round stones, resembling /teas, have 
been frequently seen on a spot of ground near Rachel's 
tomb, not far from Bethlehem. On tiie same road is a 
fountain, honoured with the name of Apostles' Foun- 
tain; and a little further is a barren, rugged, and dismal 
solitude, to which our Saviour retired, and was tempt- 
ed by the Devil; In this descent appears a steep and 
craggy- mountain, on the summit of which are two cha- 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. -^39 

PALESTINE. 

pels. There are also several gloomy caverns in the 
neighbourhood, formerly the solitary retreat of Chris- 
tian anchorets. Under this class of natural curiosities 
must also be ranked the hot and medicinal avaters 
of Palestine^ the saline efflorescences observed at the dis- 
tance of a few leagues from the dead sea; and the cele- 
brated fruit, called by the Arabs Zachone, which grows 
an a kind of thorny bush and resembles a small unripe 
walnut. 

13. Among the artificial rarities may be considered 
the ruins of Pt'o'lemais, or St. John d'Acre, which still 
retain many vestiges of ancient magnificence; such as 
the remains of a noble Gothic -cathedral^ formerly dedi- 
cated to St, Andrew; the church of St. John.) the titular 
saint of the city; \.\{&convents of the knights hospitallers; 
and the fialace of their grand master. — The remains of 
'Sebaste (the ancient Samaria), though long ago laid in 
ruins, and great part ef it turned into arable land, exhibit 
^ome marks of those sumptuous edifices with which it 
was adorned by king Herod. Towards the north side 
is a large square piazza, encompassed with marble pil- 
lars, together wiih the fragments of strong walls at some 
distance. — But the most remarkable object is a churchy 
said to have been built by the empress Helena over the 
place where St. John the Baptist Avas beheaded, the 
dome cf which, together with some beautiful columns, 
capitals, and mosaic work, prove it to have been a noble 
fabric. — Jacob's well is highly venerated by Christian 
travellers on account of its antiquity, and of our Re- 
deemer's conference with the woman of Samaria. It is 
Jiewn out of the solid rock, about thirty-five yards in 



440 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

PALESTINE 

depth, and three in diameter, and is at present covered 
with a stone vault. — The Pools of Solomon, supposed 
to have been made by order of that monarch for the sup- 
ply of his palaces, gardens, and even of the metropolis 
itself, still appear to have been a work of immense cost 
and labour: such also are the sealed fountains immedi- 
ately opposite. These fiools are three in a row, one over 
the other, and disposed in such manner that the water 
of the uppermost may fall into the second, and from the 
second into the third. They are all quadrangular, and 
of an equal breadth, viz. about ninety paces; but in 
length they differ, \.\\g first being 160 paces, the second 
200 paces, and the third 220 paces: they are all of a con- 
siderable depth, walled and plastered, and contain a large 
quantity of water. At the distance of one hundred and 
twenty paces, is the spring which supplies them. The 
aqueduct is built on a foundauon of stones, and the water 
runs in earthen pipes about ten inches in diameter. This 
work anciently extended several leagues, but at present 
there are only some fragments of it to be found. — The 
gardeiis of Solomon have also been long destroyed, and 
the ground is said to appear almost incapable of cultiva- 
tion. — The famous Pools of Gihon, and the Pools of 
Bethesda, may be ranked among the most stately 
ruins; the former is situated about a quarter of a mile 
iroxa. Bethlehem-gate westward: its length is 160 paces> 
and its breadth 67 paces. It is lined with a wall and 
plaster, and contains a considerable store of water. The 
other at Jerusalem^ is 1 20 paces long, 40 broad, and 8 
deep; but at present dry, — In the city of Bethlehem they 
pretend to show the stable and manger where the adora- 



SAGRED GEOGRAPHY. 441 



PALESTINE. 



ble Messiah lay at the period of his nativity; and exhibit 
a grotto hewn out of a chalky rock, in which they affirm 
the blessed Virgin concealed herself and holy child from 
the persecution of Herod. — At Nazareth is a magnificent 
CHURCH under ground, said to occupy the very cave 
where the Virgin Mary received the angel's salutation, 
and where two beautiful pillars of granite are erected 
in commemoration of that interesting event. At a small 
distance are some fine remains of another church, sup- 
posed to have been erected in the time of the empress 
Helena. But this is much inferior to the great ohurch 
built over our Saviour's sepulchre by the same empress, 

and called the church of the Holy Sefiulchre. The 

last class of artificial curiosities worthy of notice is the 
sepulchral monuments, of which we select the most 
.remarkable for the reader's gratification. 

The tomb of the holy Virgin, situated near Jerusalem, 
in the valley of Jehoshaphat, to which there is a descent 
by a magnificent flight of steps, has on the right hand 
side, the sepulchre of St. Anna the mother, and on the 
left, that of Joseph the husband, of Mary. In each divi- 
sion are altars for the celebration of divine worship; and 
the whole is cut out of the solid rock. — The monument 
of king Jehoshaphat is divided into several apartments; 
one of which contains his tomb, adorned with a stately 
portico and entablature. That of Absalom, two furlongs 
distant from Jerusalem, is about twenty cubits square, 
adorned below with four columns of the Ionic order, 
with their capitals and entablatures to each front. From 
the height of twenty to forty feet it somewhat lessens, and 
is quite plain, excepting a small fillet at the upper pari; 



443- SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 

PALESTINE. 

and from forty feet to the top it becomes round, and 
tapers regularly to a point, the whole cutout of the solid 
rock.— A little further westward is the tomb- of Zechar 
I'ia, the son of Barrachia, who is said t» have been slain. 
by the Jews between the temple and the altar. This 
structure is all cutout of the natural rock. Itis eighteen 
feet high, as many square, and adoi'ned with Ionic cO' 
lumns. — But the most curious and magnificent pieces of 
antiquity of this kind are the royal sepulchres, with- 
out the v/al!s of Jerusalem: they are all hewn out of the 
solid marble, and contain several spacious and elaborate 
apartments. On the eastern side is the entrance leading 
to a stately court, about 120 feet square, neatly wrought 
and polished. On the south side of it is a sumptuous 
portico, embellished in front with a kind of architrave^ 
and supported by columns, and on the left of the portico 
is a descent into the sepulchral apartments. The first 
of these apartments is a handsome room, about 24 feet 
square, formed with such neatness and accuracy, that it 
may justly be styled a beautiful chamber, hollowed out 
of one piece of marble. From this room are three pas^- 
sages leading to other chambers of a similar fabric, but 
of different dimensions; in each of which are stone cof- 
fins placed in niches, that were once covered with semi- 
circular lids, embellished with flowers, garlands, Sec. 
but now broken in pieces. The door cases, hinges, pi- 
vots, &c. are all of the same stone with the other parts 
of these rooms, and even the doors appear to have been 
cut out of the very pieces to which they hang. Why 
these grots are honoured with the appellation of sepul- 
chres of the king^s, is not exactly known; but whoever 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 443 

PALESTINE. 

views them with any degree of attention must be induc- 
ed to pronounce them a royal work, and to regard them 
as the most authentic remains of the old regal splen- 
dour, that are to be met with in the neighbourhood of 
Jerusalem. 

Subsequent to its conquest by the children of Is- 
rael,* JuDEA, Canaan, or the Promised Land, in its 
most extensive sense, was divided into maritime and in- 
land, as well as into cham/iaign and mountainous; and 
again subdivided into Judea on this side, and Judea be- 
yond the Jordan. But the most considerable division 
was that made by lot among the twelve tribesy for the 
prevention of murmurs and discontent, when two tribes 
and a half were seated beyond the Jordan, and the rest 
on this side. In the reign of king Solomon it was divid- 
ed into twelve districts, each under a peculiar officer; 
and, in the time of his imprudent son Rehoboam, a more 
fatal division was effected by the revolt often tribes, who 
under the conduct of Jeroboam, established a new mo- 



• Much confusion obtains in the ideas attached to many of the 
terms in the geography of Palestine, which I will endeavour here 
to render a little more clear. Israel is frequently expressive of 
the whole of the Jewish nation, as a people or country, anteriorly 
and subsequently to its particular application to designate the 
kingdom of Israel under Jeroboam. The same may be said of 
Jiulea, which is frequently taken for all the holy land, both be- 
fore and after the restriction of that appellative to the poi tion 
which had formerly compi'ised the lots of Judah and Benjamin. 
The appellation of Judah, also, after the revolt often tribes, was 
transferred from the lot of Jiidah whicli it comprised in connec- 
iion with that of Benjamin, to designate the kingdom of Judah. 
(i2 



444 SACRED GF.OGUAPHY. 

PALESTINE. 

'aarchy, which they called the kingdom oi Israel, in oppo- 
sition to that o^ Judah. — The kingdom of Israel embraced 
the greater part of Canaan: while that oi Judah was con- 
fined to the lots of Judah and Benjamin on the western 
shore of the Asphaltite lake. Salmanazar having trans- 
ported to Assyria, as captives, the inhabitants of the 
kingdom of Israel, (which was 134 years before Nebu- 
ehadnezar did the like for the kingdom of Judah, dis- 
tinguished specifically as the Babylonish captivity) caus- 
ed the country, thus evacuated, to be repeopled with co- 
lonics from his own dominions. Among these colonies 
we find some named Cutjieans, but with their primitive, 
seats we are unacquainted. These colonists adopted 
the religion of the country in which they were establish- 
ed, and they derived from Samaria, the capital of the 
kingdom of Israel, the name of Samaritans, which dis- 
tinguished them from the Jews.-^— -The people of the 
kingdom o[ Judah, who had been transported to Babylon 
by Nebuchadnezar, having obtained libeily from Cyrus 
to return to their native country, extended themselves 
as well in what had composed the kingdom of Israel as 
that of Judah, and thereby gave the name of Judea to 
the whole country: and this was the name of the king- 
dom afterwards possessed by Herod. — But these distinc* 
lions are incompetent to a thorough knowledge of a 
country, which divides with some others, the greatest ce- 
lebrity in history. Thus, after the return of the Jews 
from captivity, and during the time of the second temple^ 
we here find four principal divisions; as Judea, Samaria, 
Galilea, and Perea. Neither the motive, however, nor 
the time of commencing these distinctions, is clear of cil> 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 445 

PALESTINE. 

scurity. The three former were on this side of the Jor- 
diin, while the denomination of the last, denotes the coun- 
try beyond this river. Judea occupied the south, Gali- 
Ixa the north, and Samaria filled the intermediate space: 
and although all the country beyond the Jordan may with 
the same propriety be called Perxa, according to the 
signification of the term, yet this distinction is more par- 
ticularly applied to that part which made the portions of 
Reuben and Gad, extending from the torrent of Arnon 
northward to the mount called Galaad, at nearly the 
same height with the issue of the Jordan from the Tibc 
riad Sea. But of these limits we shall speak more par- 
ticularly presently. — After various changes that took 
place under the northern barbarians, Saracens, 8c c. the 
Turks reduced this country to a firovince under the beg- 
lerbegate or bashawship of Damascus. 

We shall now speak more particularly of the divi- 
sion of the Land of Promise among the twelve tribes, in 
connection with its subsequent division into Judea, Sa- 
maria, Galilxa, and Perxa; noticing at the same time 
that portion which the Philistines maintained possession 
of after the conquest of it by the Jews: and then we shall 
conclude this article of Sacred Geography with a brief 
description of the contiguous countries, the inhabitants 
of which either mingled with or bordered upon the Jews. 

I. That portion of the Promised I^and which was al- 
lotted to the tribes of Bcvjamin, Judah, Dan, and Simeon^ 
together with that retained by the Philistines, w^s, after 
the return of the Jews from the Babylonish captivity, 
distinguished by the single denomination of Jucea: when 



446 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



PALESTINE. 



it had Samaria on the north, the Mediterranean or Great 
sea on the west, Egypt and Idumea or Edom on the 
south, with the river Jordan and the Dead sea on the 
east. — We shall give the detail of the cities, Sec. of this 
country after speaking of the four tribes and the Philis- 
tines who formerly possessed it. — The tribe of Benjamin 
occupied the north-east corner of this tract; it being a 
small lot. It was bounded by that of Judah on the 
south, Efihraim on the north, Dan on the west, and the 
river Jordan on the east. It contained but few towns, 
yet this defect was amply compensated by the possession 
o[ Jerusalem,, the metropolis of all Palestine, and oi" 
which we shall speak at large, presently.— The tribe of 
Judah was bounded on the north by, that of Bevjamiriy 
on the east by the Asfihaltite lake, on the south by Idumea^ 
and west by the tribe of Simeon. This was reckoned 
the largest and most populous of all the Jewish territo- 
ries, and the inhabitants were the most valiant. The 
land was charmingly diversified with hills, and, exclusive 
of that part which lay contiguous to Idumea, it produced 
an exuberant supply of corn, oil, wine, and fruits. It 
was chiefly in Judah that the Canaanites resided; and it 
was here likewise, that Abraham and his descendants so- 
journed previous to their removal into Egypt. — The lot 
of Dan was bounded on the north by that of Efihraim^ 
on the vi'est by the Philistines and the Mediterranean sea, 
on the south by the lot of Simeon, and on the east by 
those of Judah and Be?ijamin. Its greatest length, from 
north to south, did not exceed forty miles; and the whole 
tract was rather narrow; but what it wanted in room was 
fully compensated by the richness of the soi!» and the va- 



SACKED GEOGRAPHY. 447 

PALESTINE. 

lour and indusUy of its inhabitants, some of whom pene- 
trated to the utmost verge of Palestine on the north in 
quest of new settlements. Here was the famous valley 
Nahal-Escol, from which the Israelitish spies brought 
Moses such noble specimens of the fertility of the land. 
Among the most considerable cities of this part was 
Joppa, now Jaffa, the only port which the Jews had on 
the Mediterranean. It was seated on a high hill, which 
commanded a fine prospect of a fertile country on one 
side, and of the sea on the other. The fable of Andro- 
meda chained to a rock, illustrates this pJace in antiqui- 
ty. This city suffered so severely during the holy war, 
that scarcely any of its buildings were left standing, exf- 
cept two old castles. It is now rebuilt towards the sea, 
with store-houses, and is possessed of a considerable 
trade. On the western side of the haven is a copious 
spring, which yields an excellent supply to the inhabi- 
tants, and an acceptable refreshment to travellers. — Ths 
tribe of Sialeon was confined to a very small territory in 
the most southern corner of Jurfca,^ bounded by Ban on 
the north,, by the little river Sichor on the south, by /u? 
da/i on the east, and by a small neck of land towards the 
Mediterranean on the west. The greatest part of it was 
sandy, barren, and mountainous; and the inhabitants wei'C 
so harrassed by the Idumean^ on one side, and the P/iir- 
lestines on the other, that they were necessitated to seek 
their fortune among other tribes. Sonve hired, themselves 
out to assist their brethren in the conquest of their lots, 
and others dispersed themselves among every tribe, 
where they served as scribes, notaries, &c. so fully was 
Jacob's curse verified on thsm,. as well as on the tribe of 



448 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

PALESTINE. 

Levi, on account of the cruel massacre of the Scheche- 
mites; " Cursed (said the patriarch) be their anger, 
" for it was fierce; and their revenge, for it ^vas inhu- 
" man: I will disperse them in Jacob, and scatter them in 
" Israel.'* 

We have seen that notwithstanding the Jews estab- 
lished themselves in CanaaTi, the Philistines maintain- 
ed possession of a maritime country; which extended to 
the limits of Egyfit on the south, to the tribe oi Dan on 
the north, and to that of Simeon on the east, the Mediter- 
ranean being on the west. — These people were treated 
as JUo/ihyli, or foreigners by the Jews in the time of the 
second tem/ile^ notwithstanding that their possession of 
the country was anterior to that of the ancestors of the 
Jewish nation: and it was their alienation from the wor- 
ship of the true God that produced this distinction. — 
The Philistines divided their country into five satrapies, 
viz: Gathy Ekron^ Ashdod, Ascalon, and Gaza, situated 
along the Mediterranean coast, and extended from the 
seaport oi Jamnia to the mouth of the river ^ezor. The 
extent of their inland territories cannot be satisfactorily 
ascertained, but they were upon the whole confined with- 
in narrow limits. — GATH,the birth-place of the gigantic 
warrior Goliath, was conquered by king David, fortified 
by Rehoboam, and retaken by Uzziah and Hezekiah. It 
was seated under the 35th degree of east longitude, and 
S 1st degree, 56 min. of north latitude; six miles south of 
Jamnia, fourteen south oi Jo/i/ia, and thirty-two west of 
Jerusalem. It recovered iis liberty and pristine splen- 
dour in the days of Amos and Micah, but afterward was 
demolished by liazael, king of Syria. After that pciiod 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY 4A& 

PALKSTINE. 

it was a place of small consideration, till the holy war, 
when Fulk, king of Jerusalem, erected a castle on its 
ruins, — Ekron, situated about ten miles south of Gat/i^ 
and thirty-four west of Jerusalem.^ appears to have been 
a place of considerable strength and importance. Upon 
the first division of the promised Land, it fell to the lot 
of Judah, but was afterwards given to the tribe of Dari.-—' 
AsHDOD or Azotus, was a famous port on the Mediterra- 
nean, situated about fifteen miles south oi Ekron, between 
that city and Ascalon. It was here the idol Dagon fell 
in pieces !iefore the ark of God. The strength of this 
place was so considerable, that it is said to have sustain- 
ed a siege of twenty nine y.ears under Psammittichus 
king of Egypt. — Ascvlon, another maritime town and 
satrapy, lying between As/idod and Gaza, was reckoned 
Ihe strongest of any of the PhiHstine coast; but was soon 
reduced, after the death of Joshua, by the tribe of Judah. 
This city was made an episcopal see from the earliest 
ages of Christianity, and during the holy war it was 
adorned with several magnificent edifices; but these have 
been demolished by the Saracens and Turks, and Asca- 
lon is now dwindled into an inconsiderable village. — Ga- 
za, the last satrapy, stood on a fine eminence, about fif- 
teen miles south of Ascalon, four north of the river Be- 
zor, and at a small distance from the Mediterranean. It 
was surrounded by the most beautiful valleys, supplied 
with abundance of water, and encompassed, at a further 
distance on the inland side, with cultivated hills. The 
city was remarkably strong, and surrounded with walls 
and toAvers after the manner of the Philistines. It was 
taken by Caleb, the son of Jephunneh, but soon after re- 



430 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

PALESTINE. 

gained by the ancient inhabitants, who kept possession of 
it till the time of Sampson. It passed from the Jews to 
the Chaldeans, Persians, and Egyptians, till it was pil- 
laged by Alexander the Greats it was a second time de- 
stroyed by the Maccabees, and no further mention is 
made of it til! St. Luke speaks of it as a ruined place^ 
It stands about three miles distant from the_,'sea, and still 
exhibits some noble monuments of antiquity, such as 
stately marble colonnades, finely wrought sepulchres, 
fee. In the immediat'C vicinage of the city is a round 
castle, flanked with four square towers; and a little above 
it, are the remains of an old Roman castle, the materials 
of which are so firm, that the hammer will make no im- 
pression on them. The Greeks have here a handsome 
church, with a fine roof, supported by marble pillars of 
the Corinthian orckr. Tlie castle is the residence of 
the sangiac. The adjacent territory is pleasant and de- 
lightful; but beyond it the ground is rather barren, quite 
to the river of Egypt, and inhabited by wild Arabs. 

It remains now for us to complete the detail of this 
part of Palestine, which, as we have seen, took the name 
of JuDEA after the return of the Jews from captivity. 
And as such we have already given its boundaries. — But 
that our readers may not be disappointed at the paucity 
of the objects here cited, we will remark with M. D'An- 
ville, that when we see, in the search made by Eusebius 
of Cesarea in Palestine, and Su Jerome, who inhabited 
the same country in the fourth century, but a very few 
of the multhude of places mentioned in the Scriptures 
could be found, one is tempted to smile at the presump- 
tion of the publishers of those maps, wherein the num- 



SACKED GEOGRAPHV. 



PALESTINE. 



ber of positions seems to equal this multitude. It cannot 
be expected that this country, still more desolated than 
it then was, can furnish many satisfactory indications of 
its ancient slate. Beside, an epitome, as this is, will re- 
quire us to exclude some object?, as being of minor im- 
portance, that might otherwise have been noticed. 

The predominant city in this part as in all the coun- 
ti'y, is Jerusalem, or Hierosolyma; which, according to 
some authors, was the same with Salem, the residence 
of Melchisedec. It was the centre of the Jewish wor- 
ship, the seat of monarchs and pontiffs, and the great 
metropolis of all the Holy Land, It was formerly divid- 
ed into four parts, each inclosed with a separate wall 
viz: 1st. Tiie old city oi Jebus, so called for having been 
possessed by tlie Jebusites, a Canaaniti.-h people from 
whom it was taken by David who mar'e it his residence. 
It was situated on Mount Zion. 2d. The new city, 
chiefly inhabited by merchants, tradesmen and artificers. 
3d. The lower city, embellished with some magnificent 
palaces and citadels, by Solomon, Antiochus, and Herod. 
4th. Mount Moriah, which supported the sumptuous 
temple of Solomon, destroyed by Nebuchadnezzar, re- 
built by the Jews on their return from captivity; and 
afterwards repaired, embellished, and enriched by Herci. 
After this, it subsisted only till its final dcstiuction under 
the reign of Vespasian. The insurrection of the Jews, 
under Hadrian, furnished him occasion for the building 
of a new city, altogether Roman, called u^lia, from the 
name of .Eiius which that emperor bore, with the sur- 
name of Cafiitolina: and it is thence that Jerusalem is 
mentioned by the oriental geographers under the name 



452 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

PALESTINE. 

of Ilia. The chief alteration in its site consisted in this 
— that Zion, which was the principal quarter of the more 
ancient city, was not comprised within the limits of the 
new one. This new city was adorned with many noble 
edifices; but in the time of Helena, mother of Constan- 
tine the great, it was found in so ruinous and forlorn a 
condition as raised her pity into a noble zeal for restor- 
ing it to its ancient grandeur. With this design she 
caused all the rubbish to be removed from mount Calva- 
ry, and ordered a magnificent church to be built there, 
to comprehend as many of the scenes of our Redeemer's 
sufferings as could be conveniently inclosed within one 
edifice. The walls are of stone, and the roof of cedar; 
the east includes mount Calvary, and the west, contains 
the holy Sepulchre. The former is covered with a 
handsome cupola, supported by sixteen massive columns, 
ormerly incrusted with marble. The centre is open at 
the top just over the sepulchre; and above the high altar, 
at the east end, is another stately dome. The nave of 
the church forms the choir, and in the interior aisles are 
the places where the most remarkable circumstances of 
our Saviour's passion were transacted, together with the 
tombs of Godfrey and Baldwin, the first two Cisristian 
kings of Jerusalem. An ascent of twenty-two steps 
eads to a chapel, where that part of Calvary is shewn on 
which the Messiah was crucified. The altar is adorned 
with three crosses, and other costly embellishments, 
among which are forty-:3ix silver lamps that are kept 
constantly burning. Contiguous to this is another small 
chapel fronting the body of the church. At the west 
9n is the chapel of the sepulchre, hewn out of the solid 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 453 

PALKSTINE. 

rock, and ornamented with pillars of porphyry. The 
cloister around the sepulchre is divided into several cha- 
pels for the use of the ditl'erent Christian sects vv-ho re- 
side there; and on the north-west are the apartments 6! 
the Latins, who had the care of the church. It may be 
proper to mention here an edifice erected on Mount Mo- 
riah, called Solomon's temple, though it is not easy to 
guess when or by whom it was built. The entrance is 
at the east end, under an octagon, adorned with a cupola 
and lantern; and tov.ards the west is a sti'aight aisle like 
that of a church, the whole surrounded with a sp,acious 
court, and walled on every side. In the midst of it is 
erected a Turkish mosque, remarkable neither for its 
structure nor magnitude, but which makes a stately fi- 
gure by its advantageous situation. Dr, Pococke, w^ho 
took a particular view of the edifice, has highly extolled 
the beauty of the prospect, as well as the materials and 
■workmanship. The coUonnades are said to be of the 
Corinthian order, with arches turned over them; being, in 
all probability, the porticos leading to the interior of the 
building: but the place is held in such veneration by the 
Turks, that a stranger connot approach it without dan- 
ger of forfeiting his life -or religion. This once rich, po- 
pulous, and stately metropolis, is at present reduced to a 
thinly inhabited town of about three miles in circumfer- 
ence. It is at present under the government of a san- 
giac, whose tyranny keeps the Christian inhabitants so 
poor, that their chiefsupport and trade consists in pro- 
viding strangers with accommodations, and selling them 
beads, relics. Sec. from which they are compelled to pay 
consideTrable sums to the sangiac and his officers.— 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 



PALESTINE. 



Gofihna is a place of considerable dignity north of Jeru- 
salem, on the route of Neapolis and Samaria. — jyitifiatria 
was so called by Herod, after his father, who was named 
Antipater; and lliis city is described as being seaved at 
the descent of a mountainous country, on the border of a 
plain named Saro?ias, terminated by the sea. — On the 
same shore, jifiollonius is now a ruined place named 
Arsuf, near the mouth of a torrent. — And on traversing 
this coast towards the north, we find the issue of another 
torrent, which h^s been mentioned as serving for the 
boundary to Ephraim's tribe, under the name of Catia, or 
Arcindenetif signifying the Reedy, and translated el-Ka- 
sab by the Arabs. — On this shore a lagune, which in the 
country being called Moiet-el-Temsah, or the Water of 
the Crocodile, represents the Crococlilorum Lacus men- 
tioned in antiquity. — Tending towards the south, another 
torrent, which appears unknown till the time of the cru- 
sades, is found to precede the position of Jo/t/ia, ©f 
which we have already spoken in the tribe oi Da?!. — At 
some height in the interior of the country, Lydcla, which 
among the Greeks took the name o( Dios/ioiis, preserves, 
in some vestiges, the name of I^od. — South of Joppa, 
Jcumiia, or, according^ to the oriental form, labne^ not far 
fiom the sea, still preserves the name of lebna, with the 
advantage of a port: and this is the Iblin which we find 
in the history of the holy wars. Some idea may be ac- 
(juired of the population of Judea from Strabo, who re- 
ports that this place, joined with some others in its neigh- 
bourhood, could arm forty thousand men. — Passing over 
those cities which we have already noticed in speaking 
of the satrapies of the Philisiines, we find ourse'lves in 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY 455 

■■ r — ■■ ' ■ ' ^^^ 

PAI.KSl'.NR. 

the southern part of Juclea, wiiich, in the time of the se- 
cond temple, was called Daromas^ and the name of Da- 
rom still appeal's. That of Idumxa, passing the ancient 
limits of the country of Edom, was at the same time ex- 
tended to this part, which had been evacuated by the re- 
moval of the people of Judah to Babylon. We learn 
from St. Jerome, that the inhabitants of it in his time 
contrived their dwellings in caverns. — The country on 
the borders of the lake Asphaltites is terminated by 
mountains, through which a passage is called Ascensus 
Acrabim, or the Ascent of the Scorpion. — Among the 
places wliich are to be cited in this remote part of Judsea, 
Gcrara gave its name to the canton environing it; and 
from which Ber-Sabee, signifying the Well of the Oath, 
being mentioned as making the southern boundary of 
the country ceded to the people of Israel, cannot be far 
distant. — Arad was a city at the extremity of the tribe 
of Judah. But, in returning towards Jerusalem, we find 
Hebron^ a considerable place, to which a high antiquity 
Avas attributed under the primitive name of Kirjath-Arbay 
or the city of Arba. The sepulchre of Abialiam and 
his family has made this place respected to the present 
time. Its name among the Arabs is Cabr Ibrahim, or 
the Tomb of Abraham; and, in the history of the cru- 
sades St. Abraham is the name given to Hebron.— Beth- 
Icheiriy a small place where tlie Redeemer of the world 
was born, is only six miles from Jerusalem, towards the 
south. — A place constructed by Herod, in memory of a 
' victory obtained 6ver the Jews befoi'e arriving at the re- 
gal digniiy, and which he embellished with a palace nam- 
ed Herodium^ was a little farther from Jerusalem, and to 
R 2 



^-^S SACRKD GKOGRAPHY. 

PALESTINE, 

the east witha^ — At the same distance, being marked at 
60 stadia, but in an opposite direction, Emmaua^ where 
Vespasian defeated the revolted Jews, was calted J\i'ico- 
polis. Turning towards Jericho^ a plain adjacent to the 
Jordan, celebrated heretofore for its fertility, and which 
produced a celebrated balm, succeeds a space steril and 
mountainous between Jerusalem and this city, whose 
name in the Roman writers is Hierichus, and in the Ar:-- 
bian geographers, Eriah. — E?igaddi, on the Dead Sea, 
but having its territory contiguous to that of Jericho, was 
very fertile in palm trees. — Masadoy a fortress eleva- 
ted on a rock, was the last asylum which remained to the 
revolted Jews after the taking of Jerusalem. — Zi/i/i is a 
canton between Hebron and the Dead Sea; to which 
succeeds a mountain called Carmel, the same name with 
another mount Carmel, more celebrated and better 
known, on the Great Sea in Gulili-ea. 

2. The tract to the north oi Judaa, having the grea( 
sea on the west, the Jordan on the east, and Galilea on 
the north, was called Samahia after the return of the 
Jews from captivity, about the time that Judtsa, Galilea, 
«nd Perxa became distinctive of other parts of Palestine, 
as we have before remarked. Its limits correspond pre- 
cisely with those which had formerly embraced the tribe 
^\ Elihraim and the half of Manasseh: for Samaria was 
very contracted, particularly in breadth, being bounded 
en the side of Galilea by the position of Ginaa, which is 
s'ill found under the name of Genim, not far north of 
Sebaste. — That poitlon which had formerly appertained 
tolhe half tribe of Manasskh, wus bounded on the nortlfi 



SACRED GEOGHArHY. 45?' 

PALESTINE. 

by the tribe of Tssac/iar, on the south by that of Ephraim, 
on the west by the great aea^ and east by the Jordan. It 
was acjreeably diversified with mountains, plains, and 
vallies, and contained a considerable number of stately 
cities. — The tribe of Ephraim occupied the south side 
of Samaria, and extended like that of Manasseh, from 
the Mediterranean to the river Jordan. The low lands 
were extremely rich and luxuriant; the hiils afforded 
excellent pasture, and even the rocks were prettily in- 
terspersed with trees. The towns and cities were nu- 
merous, and the population considerable. 

Sum aria., X)c\Q capital of this country, owed its foundation 
to one of the successors of the kings of Israel. But it 
had been destroyed by tha Jews under one of their As- 
monean princes, and re-e-lified by a governor of Syria, 
when Herod, fortifying and embellished this city, gave 
it, in honour of Au.t^ustus, the name of Sebaste, which it 
preserves in its ruins. — Sichem, which was the royal city 
of Israel before Samaria, took afterwards the name of 
J\/"eafiot'is, which is altered only into the form of Nabolus^ 
Two mountains, Garisim and Ebal, form a valley which 
encloses this city: and it was at the foot of the first that 
tlie Samaritans had their temple. — But the city that 
took the pre-eminence of others was de-'^area; which, 
becoming the residence of the Roman governors, was 
called Casarea of Palestine. This place, named ante- 
riorly Turris Stratonis^ was. chosen by Herod for the 
site of a magnificent city and port; to which he gave a 
name referring personally to Augustus, and common to 
many other cities. In the division of Palestine into three 
provinces, that whereof Ctesarea remai;ied metropolis, 



458 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

was the^rs^; and the see of Jerusalem was its suifragan, 
before it was elevated to the patriarchal dignity. Though 
we find Ctesarea subsisting at the time of the crusades, 
there is nothing of it now remaining but its name, and 
some vestiges of its walls and its ports. 

I. 

3. The name of Galil^a, which is distinctive of the 
residue of Palestine to the north, rarely occurs in the 
Old Testament. But, from the manner in which the 
country is frequently mentioned afterwards, the good- 
ness of its soil seems to give it the pre-eminence over 
the other parts of Palestine, with the advantage of a 
population proportionate to a greater fecundity. It pro- 
duced an abundance of corn, oil, wine, and fruits of va- 
rious sorts; and was, in its flourishing condition, so full 
of towns and villap;es, that Josephus observes, the least 
of them contained fifteen thousand inhabitants. There 
was a distinction made between Galilaa inferior^ adjacent 
to Satnarla^ and GalUaa superior towards the north, on 
the frontier of Phcenicia; which last, less occupied by 
Jews than the lower division, was called GaliUa Gen- 
tium, the Galilee of the Gentiles, or foreign nations.— 
The whole of Galilaea was formerly occupied by the 
tribes of Jther, JVafihtali, Zebulon, and /ssacAar.— The 
tribe of Ashe«. was seated on the north-west corner of 
this tract, having the Mediterranean on the west, Zebulon 
on tlie south, and M'ajihtali on the east. Its fecundity 
and the excellence of its productions, fully answered the 
blessing which dying Jacob gave it: " that the bread of 
it should be fat, and that it should yield royal dainties." 
'— Nai-htali possessed a tract <Jf country, between that 



SACRED GKOGR\P;iV. 45.9 

PALESriNK. 

of Asher and the river Jordan, It was exceedingly fer- 
tile, and extendetl along the western bank of the river 
from Mount Lebanon to the sea of Tiberias. — To the 
south of Asher and J^afihtali was seated the tribe of Ze- 
nuLox, having the Mediterranean on the west, the sea of 
Galilee on the east, the river Jefithael on the north, and 
that of Kinhon on the south; and by its vicinity to the sea, 
its numerous ports, and extensive commerce, it per- 
fectly verified the blessings given to Zebulon both by 
Jacob and Moses. — The possessions of Issachar were 
bounded by the Jordan on the east, by Zebulon on the 
north, by the Mediterranean on the west, and by the 
other half of Manasseh on the south. 

At the entrance to this country is a great plain, to 
which the name and the place of JesraeU which was a 
royal city in Israel situated on the right of the plain^ 
give at this day the name of Esdrelon. — On the other 
side, in tending towards Carmel, the place that a Roman 
legion occupied, under the name of J-.egiOj is found in 
that of Legune. — And we could wish to be as well assu- 
red of the position of Magcddo, situated on the same 
plain, where Josias of Judah was killed in a battle with 
Necos king of Egypt. — The Cai-melus mans bordered the 
shore of the sea to the west and north; and the respect 
of the Jews for this mountain was communicated also to 
the Pagans. It is fertile and woody; and pastures feed 
horses of a race highly esteemed, and which are main- 
tained by an Emir, or Arabian prince, long established 
in this canton. Several maritime cities are still recog- 
nised under Mount Carmel. — Dora, has the modern name 
of Tartoura; and the position of a place named Atlik, or 



460 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

, PALESTINE. 

Castle Pilgrim, appears to have been that which, fiom 
the sycamores that abound in its environs, was named 
Sycominos. — A place named Hefiha, now Caipha, op- 
posite lo the position of Aco^ now Acre, appeared under 
the name of Porjihyrion in a time when the strand of the 
sea furnished a species of shell-fish yielding the famous 
purple dye, but which seems now to be unknown. — The 
torrent of Kison sprang from the south side of Tabor, 
and, augmented by some brooks which traverse the 
plain of Esdrelon, is received on the flank of Carmel into 
a gulf which the sea forms between this mountain and 
the point of Acre. — The same gulf also receives the lit- 
tle Bdus, called by the Arabs Nahr Halou, and famous 
in antiquity for affording a sand proper for the manufac- 
ture of glass. — Aco^ or Aeon, took the name of Ptolcmais 
under the Ptolemies, many of whom possessed Ccele- 
Syria. But although this new name be employed by 
the Greek and Roman authors, they also use the primi- 
tive denomination of Ace. No place was more disputed 
by the crusaders and the Mussalman princes than this 
of Acre till towards the end of the thirteenth century; it 
being then destroyed, that it might no longer serve the 
Franks as a key to Palestine. Being situated on a point 
advanced in the sea, commerce has given occasion to 
some habitations among its ruins. — To conclude this 
notice of the coast as far as Tyre, the site of Ecdi/ipa, or 
Aczib, preserves in a very small place the name ot Zib; 
beyond which the passage of a steep mountain that over- 
looks the sea, was called Scala Tyriorum, or the Ladder 
of the Tyrians. 

Advancing into the country, nearly east of Acre, we 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 164 



find that Se/i/ihoris, spoken of by Josephus as being the 
strongest place and most considerable city ot Galilea, 
had taken the name of Dio Casarea in the time of St. 
Jerom, and was then extremely decayed. The Jews 
have continued to it the name of Sipphori, which in vul- 
gar use is Sefouri. — Between this place and the Tabor, 
in a valley north of the plain of Esdrelon, Kazareth is a 
small place, according to St. Jerom, called .hfazara.—- 
The Tabor is an insulated mount in the middle of a plain; 
and its name takes the form of Itabyrius in the Greek 
writers. — But, proceeding towards Tiberias, we must 
incline to the vighi to view Bet/jsan, on the confines of 
Galilea and Samaria. This city, in the vicinity of the 
Jordan, is more celebrated under the name of Scythofio- 
lis, which appears to be due to the Scythians, who, ac- 
cording to Herodotus, had advanced as far as Palestine 
before they won the empire of Asia from the Medes. 
However, this Greek denomination of a city that was re- 
puted the first among those of the Decapolis, and that 
took the rank of metropolis in the second Palestine, has in 
its turn been superseded by its primitive name, in the al- 
tered form of Baisan. — Tiberias received this name from 
Herod Antipas, in honour of Tiberius. It is supposed that 
the son of the great Herod, for the construction of the new 
city, made choice of the site of a more ancient and obscure 
place, called Cheneret A, according to St. Jerom, or rather 
Cinereth: and this name of Ti^jerias was communicated to 
the adjacent lake, which it qualified at the same time 
with the appellation of Sea, by a figure familiar to the 
orientals. In the pronunciation of the Arabs the name 
is Tabarieh; and that of Hammam, by which they deno- 



4G2 SACRED GEOGHAPHY. 

PALIiSTINE. 

minate the therms, or inineral baths, in its neighbour- 
hood, is the Aim7iaiis, which the Greek writers bestow 
on the same place, and which is itself an alteration of 
the primitive Hebraic name of Chamath. — The name 
Genesarcth, which the lake of Tiberias originally bore, 
was drawn from a little country distinguished for the 
beauties of its situation, under the name of Gennesar, 
and which being watered by the fountain of Ca/ihernanmf 
should be situated towards the ujjper part of the lake, 
near the entrance of the Jordan, — The siege that Jose- 
phus sustained against Vespasian in Jo/c/,'G?a, has given 
celebrity to this place, which this historian describes as 
situated on a height environed with precipices. — He 
speaks of Japha as another strong place in the same can- 
ton; and it is presumed that the fortress of Sapher, 
which was the residence of a Turkish commaridant, and 
overthrown by an earthquake sorne years since, corres- 
ponds with this position. — A little beyond, the Lacus 
Samochonites of Josephus, traversed by the Jordan, is 
thougiu to be the waters of Mcron in the sacred text. 
This lake, now called Bahr-cl-Houlei, is reduced to an 
inconsiderable pool in dry seasons. — There are said to 
be still vestiges of Asor^ which preserve the name of 
this royal city of the Canaanites. — Another place nnmed 
Kadas may have been the Kcdes of the tribe of Naph- 
tali, and at the same time the Cedessvs\\\\\ch the I'yri- 
ans possessed. — It remains^ that we remount to Fancas 
between two brooks which form the Jordan, at the foot 
of the mount called Fanium, on which Herod, in grati- 
tude for having been put in possession of the Trachoni- 
tis by Augustus, erected a temple to that prince On 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 465 

PALESTINE. 

the partition of the states of Herod among his children. 
Philip, who had the Trachonitis, gave to the city of Pa- 
neas the name of Casarea, to which was annexed for dis- 
tinction the surname of Phili/ipi. It did" not however 
prevent the resumption of its primitive denomination, 
pronounced Banias, more purely than Belines, as it is 
written by the historians of the crusades. 

4. We must now pass the river Jordan to conclude 
what yet remains to be said of Palestine. Here, the 
kings of Bashan and of the Amonites being vanquished 
by the children of Israel, their territories were allotted 
to the two tribes of Reuben and Gad^ and half of Ma- 
nasse/i : and PERiEA, also, subsequent to the Jewish 
captivity, became distinctive of the greater part of it. 
Although all the country beyond the Jordan may with 
the same propriety be called Percea, according to the 
signification of the term, yet this distinction is more 
particularly applied to that part which made the portion 
of Reuben and Gad, extending from the torrent of ^r- 
non, northward to the mount of Galaad, at nearly the 
same height with the issue of the Jordan from the Tibc 
riad sea. — The tribe of Reuben had the southern part of 
the new conquest, extending from the north-east coasts 
of the Asiihaltite lake along the eastern banks of the 
river Jordan; divided on the south from Midian by the 
Arnon; on the north from the tribe of Gad^ by another 
little river; and bordered on the east partly by the Maa- 
bites, and partly by the Ainmonitesi while the Jordan 
divided it on the west from the Land of Promise. It ex- 
hibited three famous mounnjins, viz. Pcar^ JVeboy and 
S 



464 SACRED GEOGRAPHY, 

PALESTINE. 

Pisgah, and was every where extremely fertile in corn, 

wine, fruits, and pasturage To the north of Reuben 

was fixed the tribe of Gad, having likewise the river 
Jordan on the west, the jimmonites on the east, and the 
half tribe of Manasseh on the north. This tract of 
country, like the former, was famed for its rich pastur- 
age and exuberant productions. — The portion allotted to 
tlie half tribe of Manasseh was bounded on the south by 
that of Gad, on the west by the Jordan and Samochon- 
ite lake, on the east by the hills of ^a«Aaw and Her?non, 
and on the north by a part of Lebanon. Its extent was 
almost equal to the other tw«. 

The Arnon is discharged into the lake Asphaltites, af- 
ter having passed through the neighbourhood of the prin- 
cipal city of the Moabites. Towards the beginning of 
its course, the Homtms had established a military post, 
Castra Arnonensia, on the frontier of Arabia, in a can- 
ton which was called Arnonas The mounts Abarim, 

and the summit of JW6o, whence Moses had a prospect 
of the Promised Land, rise at some distance from the 
Jordan opposite to Jerico, between two plains: that on 
the western side being divided by the river, while the 
eastern plain is an extent of country which we find un- 
der the n^me of Cnm/iestria Moab At the foot of 

these mountains towards the Jordan, the name of Livias 
was given to an ancient city, to flatter Augustus in the 
person of Livia. — Nearer to the lake Asphaltites, Herod 
added fortifications to the advantageous situation of Ma- 
cfiarus, on the summit of a steep rock. — Farther on, 
and southward withal, a place meriting notice for its hot 
springs, was called Calli-rhodl'i which signifies in Greek 



SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 46 

PALESTINK. 

the limpid fountain. — jimathus is described as an ex- 
ceedingly strong fortress, -overlooking the great plain, 
which is continued along the course of the Jordan, from 
the Tiberiad lake to that of Asphaltites, under the name 
of Aulon in antiquity, but supplanted by that of el-Gour, 
which signifies in the Arabic language a low, or sunken 
and. 

A canton of country more retired toward the north is 
distinguished by the name of Galaaditis, which a moun- 
tain, whose name is Galaad, communicates to it. The 
name of this mountain appears sometimes to be extend- 
ed to^the branches projected towards Anti-I.ibanus; but 
it is more particularly applied to the ridge that reigns on 
the right of the torrent of Jabok, which, issuing from 
the country of Ammon, discharges itself into the Jor- 
dan about the height of Bethsan; and is believed to be 
that now called Zarea. — Ramoth was in remote antiqui- 
ty a principal city of this country, situated near Jabok, 
and at a defined dictoncc from the capital of the Ammo- 
niics. — But in a posterior age, another city attracts grea- 
ter notice under the name ot Pelia, which the Greeks 
of Syria, by whom it was inhabited, had given it, from 
the circumstance of its being environed with water, as 
the Macedonian city of this name. We see in history 
that this city received the Christians who had abandon- 
ed Jerusalem when it was menaced with ruin by the 
sieaje. — There is mention made of another city, whose 
name of Dium was transferred likewise from Macedon 
but its position is judged to be more remote, as compre- 
hended in the province of Arabia, without the limits ©f 
Palestine, which included the former. 



466 SACRED GEOGRAPHY. 

PALESTINE. 

Batanea is another country which covers the north of 
Galaaditis, and its name is preserved in that of Batinia, 
as we find in the oriental geographers. This is the coun- 
try conquered by the people of Israel, from Og king of 
Mashan; to whose territories was contiguous, what Se- 
hon king of the Amoritcs possessed in Galaad. And 
there is reason to believe that of the primitive Bashan 
was afterwards formed the name of Batanea. Its district 
appears to be separated from the Tiberiad lake by a mar- 
gin of land called Gauionitis, from Golaji, or Gaulon, 
the name of a strong fortress, distinctly indicated in the 
oriental geography under the name of Agheloun, or Ad- 
geloun. — Gamala, not far distant, was a place almost in- 
accessible, being seated upon a rock bounded by precipi- 
ces, which was separated by the extremity of the Tibe- 
riad lake from a considerable city called Taric/icee, from 
•the circumstance of its being the place where the fish 
taken in the lake were cured.— This extremity of the 
lake receives a streani namerl heretofore Hteromax, and 
now Yermuk, which passes under Gadara, a i^unoiaera^ 
ble city, distinguished as the capital of Peraea by Jose- 
phus. Its name is now Kedar. — At the entrance of the 
Jordan into the lake, Julias received its name from Phi- 
lip, tetrarch of the Trachonitis: and with this position 
correspond the vestiges of a city under the name of Te- 
loui. We may add, that there is reason to believe this 
Julias to be the Chorozain of a remoter age. — The Yer- 
muk is celebrated in Saracen history for a great victory 
obtained over the Greeks, in the time of Omar; and a 
city of the same name is also mentioned as adjacent to 
the river, and which appears to have been that known 



SACPtED GF.OnRVPHV. 467 

PALESTINK. 

heretofore under the Roman denomination of CafiitoUas. 
— Gerasa is recognised in the name of Jaras, found" in 
the historians of the crusades. — On a route leading to 
Damascus, Coneitra,or Coneitha, may refer to Canatha. 
And this position was the term of the Israelitish posses- 
sions in the tribe of Manasseh. The name of Hennon 
is applied to the branch of a mountain which envelopes 
this canton.— In a plain east of the Jordan, a basin called 
Phiala, having no perceptible issue, has been regarded 
as the fountain of the Jordan: this rivulet being filtered 
through ihe soil, between the basin and its more appa- 
rent .sources in tiie environs of Paneas. This plain is 
called by the Arabs Meidan, signifying a horse-couisc, 
and is 'famous for a fair held upon it. 

Before we conclude this article, it is proper to speak 
of what is called the Decafiolis. This appears to have 
been a confederation of ten cities; which, being not in- 
habited by Jews, had a common interest in guarding 
against the enterprises of the Asmonean princes, by 
whom the Jewish nation was governed till the time of 
Herod. Scijtho/ioiis is put in the first rank, and second 
only to Gadara; to these may be added Hi/ipos, Gerasa^ 
Canatha; and descending to the south, we meet with 
Pellay Bium, and Philadelphia, ylbila^^ a city of Eata- 
nea, is of this number; to complete which we have to 
add the city of Cafiitolics. 

There arc three denominations of countries, making 
the frontiers of Syria and Arabia; Trachoiiitis^ Iiunea, 
and Auranitiii; but their appropriate limits we cannot 
distinguish. The first has a Greek name, expressing 
the asperity of a mountainous country, which a people 
5 2 



4'6^ SACRED GEOGRAr*IIY. 

PALESTINK. 

addicted to rapine, and inhabiting deep cavefns called 
Trachones, occtipied- These had for their ehitf one 
Zenodorus, whom Augustus deprived of his domain, 
called Domus Zenodori. — Iturcsa is not easily distin- 
guished from the Trachonitis, and niay owe its name to 
an appellative in some other language than the Gieekr 
-—The Auranitis is better known, retaining its name in 
that of Bclad-Aiiran; and whose eastern limits are ab- 
sorbed in the deserts of Arabia. Tliis arid country which 
is only watered by the winter rains preserved in cisterns, 
does not appear t;Q have beep subjected till the reign of 
Trajan. Bostrqy its principal city, was metropolis of a 
province formed under the name of ^4rabia. It still re- 
tains the name of Bozra; and it is said to be situated on 
a torrent called !^ahr-al-Oazal, or the River of Gazelle. 

5. it now remains to give a concise account of the 
countries belonging to those nations that were seated 
around Palestine. — Idumca, br the land of Edom, con- 
stituted a part of Arabia Petraea, having Judea on the 
north, Egypt and a branch of the Red sea on the west, 
the rest of Arabia Petrgea on the south, and the desert 
of Arabia on the east. Its extent seems tq have varied 
considerably at different periods; in consequence of 
which Josephus distinguishes it, when at the largest^ by 
the epithet of great, in opposition to Us more narrow 
boundaries. The same author divides it into Upper and 
Lower Idumeaj but the country, upon the whole, is re- 
presented as dry, mountainous, hot, and in some parts 
steril; and the high lands exhibit many dreadful caverns 
t>nd recesses, which resemble those in the southern part 



SACRED (.KOGUAPIIY. 46^ 

PA.LESTINE. 

of Judea. This country is at present under the domin- 
ion of the Turks, mostly waste and uncultivated; and 
inhabited by wild Arabs, with whom the Europeans have 
but little intercourse. — The, nation ot Amalek or the 
Amalekites^ was seated in that part of Arabia Pctraea 
which lay eastward of the Edomites, and extended al- 
most as far north as the Asphaltite lake, and as far south- 
ward as the Red sea: but as the people were mostly of a 
wandering disposition, and lived in booths, tents, or ca- 
verns, like the Arabs, it is impossible to ascertain their 
limits with any degree of precision. — The Midianites, 
or the land of Midian, was situated on the north of Am- 
alek. It was hot, sandy, and in many parts desert; yet 
abounded with camels and other species of cattle. It 
appears to have contained many cities, castles, &c. as 
early as the time of the Exodus. The city of Midian was 
in all probability, rebuilt subsequent to that period, as 
both Eusebius and St. Jerom assert there were some re- 
mains of it to be seen in their time. — The land of Moab 
was likewise in Arabia Petrxa, on the north of Midian, 
having the river Arnon on the west, the land of Gilead 
on the north, and the Ishmaelites on the east. It con- 
tained several considerable cities, which the Moabites 
wrested fl-om the gigantic Emims and Zamzummims, 
but which were afterwards possessed by the Jews. The 
capital of the Moabites, situated on the torrent of Ar- 
noiS, was called Areopolis; but its true name was Ra- 
bath-Moab, by which it is still known; although it is 
called Raba as well as Maab, in the oriental geography. 
—The AmmoniiesWQYG seated to the north-east of their 
brethren the Moabites, in Arabia Dcserta, having the 



470 SACRED GEOCtlAPHY. 

PALESTINE. 

Arnon on the west, the Ishmaelites on the south, the de- 
serts of Arabia on the east, and the hills of Bashan and 
Gilead on the north. Their territories, according to 
the sacred historians, seem to have been anciently confi- 
ned by the rivers Jabok and Arnon; but their frequent 
incursions into the neighbouring states occasioned their 
boundaries to be in constant fluctuation. Their princi- 
pal city was called Ammon, and Rabath-Ammon^ or the 
Great Ammon, before the name of Philadelfihia was 
giyen to it, probably from a Philadelphus king of Egypt; 
but following the practice which we have seen common 
in Syria, it has resumed its primitive name in the form 
of Amman. — The descendants of Ishmael, the son of 
Abraham and Hagar, occupied a part of A-ahia Deser- 
ta, eastward of Moab and Midian, and bounded on the 
north by Ammon; but how far they extended southward 
and eastward it is impossible to determine. It may, how- 
ever, be presumed, from an assertion of Moses, that 
their territory reached from Havilah, which was situated 
near the confluence of the Tigris and Euphrates, to Shur 
on the isthmus of Suez. Thence they are said to have 
spread themselves over the greatest part of Arabia; in 
consequence of which Josephus styles their progenitor 
the founder of the Arabian nation. 

ERRATA. 

The reader is recommended to correct the following errata 
with his. pencil. 
Page 16, Une 16, before noted insert not. 
354, 2, note,/o»' 46, read 37. 

259, 5, for 20, read U. 

372, 5, note, omit and. 

404, 28, for there, read therefore. 

414, 6, /o7' birthright, rear/ paternal blessing- 

414, 7,>r Bethuel, read L&ban. 



APPENDIX. 



For the satisfaction and ediiication of the student we 
here subjoin a cronological imperial table, exhibit- 
ing a concise view of the succession of Empires and their 
founders from the remotest antiquity to the time of 
Charlemagne. 



TABLE 



EMPIRES AND THEIR FOUNDERS. 



Empires. Countries. 

1st. C 
ASSYRIAN si. Assyria. 

EMPIRE, C 

2nd. 1 3 

ASSYRIAN -^ 4 
SMPIRE. 1 5. 



IE. 5. 



EGYPTIAN 
EMPIRE. 



3rd. 

ASSYRIAN 
EMPIRE, 



PERSIAN <^ 4 
EMPIRE 



Assyria, 

Bactriana, 

Persia, 

Media, 

Syria, 

Armenia, 

Asia Minor- 

f 1. iEgyptus, 

I 2. Syria, 

1 3. Assyria, 

14. Persia, 
5. India, 
■^ 6. Bactriana, 
■ 7. Media, 

8. Iberia, 

9. Arincirtu, 

I 10. Asia Minor, 

11. Thracia, 
Ll2- Libya. 
fl. \ssyria, 

2. Bactriana, 

3. Persia, 

4. Media, 

5. Armenia. 
fl. Persia, 

12. Bactriana, 
3. Media, 
Assyria, 
Syria, 
Armenia, 
Asia Minor. 



[f 



Kingt, &c. Bejtre Christ- 
>und€r NiMROD, 2125, 



•under Ninvs, 



1986. 



)>under Sesostris, 



J 
)-under Sardanapalus, 900. 



>• under Cyrus, 



47^ 



APPENDIX. 



Empires. Countries. 

(\. Persia, & India, 

2. Bactriana, 

3. Media, 
2nd. 4. Assyria, 

PERSIAN J 5. Syria, 
EMPIRE, 6. Armenia, 



Kings, &c. 

] 



Be/ore ChtMt. 



Lunder Darius Hystas- 

1 PES, 



509. 



GREEK 
EMPIRE, 



The same, 
(Uvided by 
Alexander's 
generals. 



Iberia, 

8. ^g'vptus, 

9. Libya. 

1. Graecia, 

2. Thracia, 

3. Asia Minor, 

4. \rmenia, 

5. Media, 

^ 6. Bactriana, 

7. India, & Persia, 

8. Assyria, 

9. Syria, 

10. ^gyptus, 
1^11. Libya, 
rl, Grxcia, 

1. Thracia, 

2. Asia Minor ^a« 

1. Asia Minor /)art "^ 

2. Armenia, 

3. Media, 
•^ 4. Bactriana, 

5. India, 

6. Persia, 

7. Assyria, 

8. Syria, part, 

1. ^g-yptiis, 

2. Libyy, 
1.3. a y rla pat^t. 



under Alexander, 328- 



to Cassander, 
7. to Lysimacus, 



i. 



Seleucus, 



SOM. EMP. < 1. Italia 



to Ptoiemy, 



under the consuls. 



CAR 
GE 
EM 



IT HA- C\. 
NX AN < 2. 
PIRE, (_3. 



2nd. 

ROMAN 
EMPIRE, 



Africa Pro/yr 
Maiu'etania, 
Hispania. 
f 1. Italia, 

12. Hispania, 
3. Gallia />aK. [ 

I 4. Iilyricum/;ar^ I 
■^ 5. Grsecia, ' 

6. Thracia, J 

7. Asia Minor part 
6. Syria part I 

^9. Africa /)ro/»na, j 



I under Hanabj 



301. 



234. 



209. 



under Jui.ius C^sar, 



55. 



AfPENDlX- 



473 



Empires. 



3rd. 

ROMA.N 
EMPIRE, 



TARTHIA 
EMPIRE, 



4th. 

ROMAN 
E.MPIRE, 



5th. 

ROMAN 
EMPIRE 



Countries. 

1. Italia, 

2. Ilispanla, 

3. Gallia, 

4. Germania /»art. 

5. lUyricum, 

6. Graecia, 
< 7- Thracia, 

8. Asia Minor, 

9. Syria, 

10. ^gyptus, 
11 Libya, 
12. Africa propria, 

\\Z. Mauretania pt. J 
fl. Persia, 
^-< 2. Bactriana, 
\5. Media, 
f4. Assyria. 

1. Italia, 

2. Hispania, 

3. Gallia, 

4. Britannia, 

5. Germania/»ar^ 
6 lllyricntTj, 

7. Graecia, 
-< 8. Thracia« 

9. Dacia, 

10. Asia Minor, 

11. Armenia, 

12. Syria, 

13. .Egyptus, 
14- Libya, 
15. Africa propria, j 

^16. Mauretania. j 
f 1. Italia, -^ 

2. Hispania, 

3. Gallia, 

4. Britannia, 

5. Gerniinia part, 

6. Illy rl cum, 

7. Graecia, 

8. Thracia, 
^ 9. Dacia, 

10. Asia Minor, 
11 Armenia, 

12. Syria, 

13. iEgyptus, 

14. Libya, 

15. Africa Jiro/w-jo, 
L.16. Mauretania. 



KingSy iic\ After Christ, 



Vunder Tiberius C^.s»r, 18. 



^under Arsaces Venoites, 46. 

J 



^under Trajan, 



115. 



^undcP C0XST-4NTINJ, 



306. 



474 



APPENDIX. 






Emph'es. Countries. 

^ I 2. Hispania, 
;^ J 3. Gallia, 
§^■^4. Britannia, 
I j 5. lilyricum, 
- : 6. Dacia, 

L/. A.frica propria, 
f 1. Thracui, 
pj I 2. Gi-jecia, 
^ J 3. Asia Minor, 
^ J 4. Syria, 
3 5. ib;gyptus, 
L6. Libya, 
f 1. Thracia, 

12. Grsecia, 
3. Asia Minor, 
^ I 4. Armenia, 
»' I 5. Syria, 
S<( 6. iEgyplus, 
3 I 7. Lybia, 

is. A [v'lca. propria, 
9. Maurelunia, 
. 10. Italia, 
[_1]. Illyricum, 
^1. Ractriana, 

2. Persia, 

3. Media, 

4. Assyria, 
SARACEN J 5. Syria, 
EMPIRE, i 6. ^g-yptus, 

7. Libya, 

8. Ah'ica. propria. 

9. Mauretania, 

10. Hispania, 
1. Gallia, 



Kings, &c. 



.Ifter ChriiL 



nmcler Honorius,"^ 
I 



J 

1 



■under Arcadius 



J 



"under Justinian, 



>under Solymjln, 



■|r 



^ . 2. Geimania, 
fr<j 3. Italia, 
3 [ 4. Illyricum, 
" >1. Thracia, 
p J 2. Grjecia, 

3. Asia Minor, 
Armani a. 



295 



71S 






1 

^under Charlemagnb,"^ 
^under Niciphonws L J 



>>802 



LIBRARY OF CONGRESS 

.0 020 549 019 A 






'W -it,,*. 



■^' 



